I have a related question: Can the calorie count reliably predict the effect on a persons weight? Or is the amount of carbohydrates and fats much more important?
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How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
41–50 of 156 posts
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#42> 9 Kcal/g for fat. [...] These numbers were originally determined by burning This method for calculating the calorie count for fat has in my opinion allowed the demonisation of fat. Our stomachs are imperfect at digesting globules of fat. Burning-until-gone releases much more of the energy than surface acting acids and proteinases. Effective calorie count for fat just has to be so much lower than the listed value. C…
The body is very efficient in storing fat, more than carbs or protein. But burning fat is inefficient. But this is just from the top of my head. I think its just a lot easier to eat a lot of carbs. Fats and protein make me much more saturated more quickly. I don't think there is some magic formula.
Storing fat? ... You know have to burn the the fat to be able to store it? The fat doesn't have some other pathway from stomach to body fat - all the 'fat' you carry has been burned to get there. So whatever you have been overeating will be the cause.
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
The protein test was famously faked with melamine in the Chinese dog-food scandal that killed dogs and resulted in a recall: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_pet_food_recalls
I was following that case closely back in 2007 because of my pet (thankfully not affected). An astonishing thing I learned was that practically every brand of cat food and dog food in North America is/was manufactured by a single company called Menu Foods in Streetsville, Ontario, Canada. The pet food "brands" don't have their own factories. They all contract it out to the same place. A few journalists remarked on th…
>> The majority of US and Canadian pet food is made at one factory
This is true if you're talking about wet pet food - there are other makers of wet pet food and dry pet food (which is over half the market) is made by other companies. Mars/Nestle (the same people who make candy...)
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#44> 9 Kcal/g for fat. [...] These numbers were originally determined by burning This method for calculating the calorie count for fat has in my opinion allowed the demonisation of fat. Our stomachs are imperfect at digesting globules of fat. Burning-until-gone releases much more of the energy than surface acting acids and proteinases. Effective calorie count for fat just has to be so much lower than the listed value. C…
The body is very efficient in storing fat, more than carbs or protein. But burning fat is inefficient. But this is just from the top of my head. I think its just a lot easier to eat a lot of carbs. Fats and protein make me much more saturated more quickly. I don't think there is some magic formula.
In general your body doesn't take the fat you eat and store it as fat. It takes the excess sugars and stores them as fat.
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#45> 9 Kcal/g for fat. [...] These numbers were originally determined by burning This method for calculating the calorie count for fat has in my opinion allowed the demonisation of fat. Our stomachs are imperfect at digesting globules of fat. Burning-until-gone releases much more of the energy than surface acting acids and proteinases. Effective calorie count for fat just has to be so much lower than the listed value. C…
The body is very efficient in storing fat, more than carbs or protein. But burning fat is inefficient. But this is just from the top of my head. I think its just a lot easier to eat a lot of carbs. Fats and protein make me much more saturated more quickly. I don't think there is some magic formula.
> burning fat is inefficient
Huh? The body is perfectly happy to burn fat. You just have to give it the right conditions. In fact, the body can get practically all its energy from fat, it's called ketosis. You can achieve a state of ketosis either through a high fat, low carb diet or fasting.
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Reliably? Short version is no, and it is even more complicated. Two individuals eating the same food will gain weight differently, depending on a large number of factors.
Bit different answer: Yes it is possible. While it is true that two individuals eating the same food will gain weight differently, if you count your calories and measure everything you'll eventually learn (In the body building community we usually say two weeks) how many calories you need to keep your weight. With that information, you can adjust your calorie intake to lose weight. Say your maintenance is 2500 calori…
That is not entirely true (not entirely false either), the reality is more complicated.
Your metabolism level, and the percentage of calories that are actually taken up by fat cells, depend on many factors besides total calorie count.
A nice paper that came out recently: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151119143445.h...
So, for example, person A can eat 3000 calories of cookies per day, but would gain weight on 3000 calories of rice. Person B could be the opposite. From the paper, it looks like genetics is a factor, though epigenetic factors and microbiome seem more important.
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kind of reminds me of this story: http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/donbyrd/Teach/Math//Gamow...
Would it be possible for the baker to distribute bread to customers in such a way that the weight appears to follow a fair curve for any one customer, but is still unfair if all loaves for all customers were analyzed in aggregate? (something like Simpson's paradox?) After the professor first discovered him he obviously could have started giving him loaves calculated to follow the fair distribution, but I'm not sure i…
Each customer would need to see a normal distribution (possible), and each would need the mean to match the "correct" value (not possible without the overall mean matching the correct value).
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#48> 9 Kcal/g for fat. [...] These numbers were originally determined by burning This method for calculating the calorie count for fat has in my opinion allowed the demonisation of fat. Our stomachs are imperfect at digesting globules of fat. Burning-until-gone releases much more of the energy than surface acting acids and proteinases. Effective calorie count for fat just has to be so much lower than the listed value. C…
This isn't so. Quoting [1], energy dissipated as side-effect heat during gestation and storage:
Carbohydrates: 5 to 15% of the energy consumed
Protein: 20 to 35%
Fats: at most 5 to 15%
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Bit different answer: Yes it is possible. While it is true that two individuals eating the same food will gain weight differently, if you count your calories and measure everything you'll eventually learn (In the body building community we usually say two weeks) how many calories you need to keep your weight. With that information, you can adjust your calorie intake to lose weight. Say your maintenance is 2500 calori…
That is not entirely true (not entirely false either), the reality is more complicated. Your metabolism level, and the percentage of calories that are actually taken up by fat cells, depend on many factors besides total calorie count. A nice paper that came out recently: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151119143445.h... So, for example, person A can eat 3000 calories of cookies per day, but would gain w…
>So, for example, person A can eat 3000 calories of cookies per day, but would gain weight on 3000 calories of rice. Person B could be the opposite. From the paper, it looks like genetics is a factor, though epigenetic factors and microbiome seem more important.
That's not at all what that paper says. It describes that blood glucose response to various foods can differ between people (and shows to extreme outliers as examples). Your interpretation with "3000 calories of cookies" vs rice is both not supported by the study, and also nonsense.
I'd look up the studies for this if I had the time, but: the actual correlation (relationship) between calories and weight gain/loss is extremely large, with the differences between most people of similar body types less than 200 calories/day.
Re: How do food manufacturers calculate the calorie count of packaged foods? (2003)
#50> 9 Kcal/g for fat. [...] These numbers were originally determined by burning This method for calculating the calorie count for fat has in my opinion allowed the demonisation of fat. Our stomachs are imperfect at digesting globules of fat. Burning-until-gone releases much more of the energy than surface acting acids and proteinases. Effective calorie count for fat just has to be so much lower than the listed value. C…
This isn't so. Quoting [1], energy dissipated as side-effect heat during gestation and storage: Carbohydrates: 5 to 15% of the energy consumed Protein: 20 to 35% Fats: at most 5 to 15% [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specific_dynamic_action
This adds to my point, it does not subtract to my point.
Not only is the fat digestion process inefficient, but on top the fat absorbtion process consumes more energy to make happen ( that heat )
We'd have to see where in the large 5-15% ranges various items stand.
Sugar dissolving in water... I'd be amazed if that released 15% of the energy. I'm still amazed it would be as high as 5%, so thanks for that info
EDIT: spatular set me straight with a detailed process for sugar absorbtion