What are calories?

What are calories?

Defining the definition of calorie appears to be easy: according to most science textbooks, it's the amount of energy required to raise a gram of water just one degree Celsius. But how does that relate to the caloriecounts that are displayed all over everything from fast food menus to nutrition labels on snack bars

When we consider caloriecounts when we look at caloriecounts, we're typically trying to figure out how much energy we're putting to our bodies. However, a label on a food item cannot be able to tell you at least in a precise manner. There are too many elements at play, many of that depend on an individual's physiology, and others that we're still working out.

It is worth noting that beginning in the year 2020 the almonds suddenly looked like they had around 30% less calories than they did the year before. Walnuts and cashews also experienced an identical drop on energy density. Nuts themselves didn't change, however, the method employed to determine calories did.

This is due to the fact that it's because the FDA and USDA frequently still use an outdated method for measuring calories. This method was created in the 19th century (though exceptions can be made when there's more recent research on the subject, like with the nuts). In the late 18th century Wilbur Atwater, decided to determine the amount of energy in food items by burning them in order to determine how much energy was inside it as well as feeding the same food to humans and determining how much energy was contained in their poop and pee. The difference between energy in and energy out, as it were and the calculation of calories, was what led to the numbers that we employ for macronutrients in the present Nine calories in one gram of fat and four in grams of carbohydrate and protein.

In the 19th century, this was a massive leap in our understanding of energy density of food. However, in the 21st century, this doesn't seem to be quite right.

[Related The truth about keeping track of caloriesIt's a fact!

It's true that a calorie of fat in a walnut, for example, doesn't appear like the same thing as a calorie made from fats from animals. It's not entirely clear what causes this the implication is that our bodies don't break down all food items in the same manner, which means some calories remain in the food and go to our poop. They haven't impacted our waistlines at all. (We are reminded that the calories-in-nuts research was partially funded by different nut boards, though the parties involved didn't create or conduct the research).

The concept of bioavailability has only recently been the subject of study, and there's a lack of data regarding other types of foods we're not quantifying. For instance, we know that cooking food can seem to make the nutrients contained in it more accessible. We are also aware that our unique gut microbes help determine how much energy we extract from our food for example, by breaking down cell walls inside certain vegetables. The Atwater system does not account at anything for cooking food and even less, the method of cooking it, neither does it take into account different bioavailability levels between different kinds of foods. It just goes by the amount of fat, protein, or carbohydrate are in the food.

The new nut studies don't employ a more sophisticated technique than Atwater used--basically, the researchers fed almonds (or walnuts or cashews) to the participants and they measured their poop for how much energy was absorbed. It's not that the USDA researchers wanted to study one particular food item in particular.

Until we find a better method of quantifying the amount of energy in any one food group that is the term calorie is, in reality is a term we've assigned to food. Do not think about it too much.

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