Negative Calorie Foods

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rjt1000
rjt1000 Posts: 700 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Ok, so in another part of the MFP board I saw somebody mention "negative calorie foods" and somebody else call them out on it and say there's no such thing. So, I did a quick Google search and there are a lot of websites that say there are negative calorie foods (meaning foods that have fewer calories in them than your body burns digesting them) and I saw a lot of websites that say there's no such thing.

So who has links to some true research info on it? The search I did pulled up a whole lot of stuff that linked back to livestrong.com website. Only saw one website that seemed to have any real medical person involved and that was a single doctor who said negative calorie foods don't exist.

So, who's got some solid info for me?

Replies

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    There's no such thing. Foods contain macronutrients (carbs, protein and fat). Carbs and proteins are approximately 4 calories per gram, fats are 9 calories per gram, so every food contains calories. Each macronutrient creates a TEF (Thermic Effect of Food), which is a slight spike in the metabolism required to process and utilize it - but none of them have a TEF exceeding 100%, which is what would be required for it to be a "negative calorie food" as far as the body is concerned. Water has 0 calories (no carbs, protein or fat), but even it isn't a "negative calorie food".

    Read this article - scroll down to the paragraph on TEF. Lyle McDonald explains it much better and in more detail:

    http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/metabolic-rate-overview.html
  • meshashesha2012
    meshashesha2012 Posts: 8,326 Member
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
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    So who has links to some true research info on it? The search I did pulled up a whole lot of stuff that linked back to livestrong.com website. Only saw one website that seemed to have any real medical person involved and that was a single doctor who said negative calorie foods don't exist.

    Props to you for not considering livestrong.com a reliable source :)
  • skinimin
    skinimin Posts: 252 Member
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?

    bit harsh, the OP was asking for links to science, so seems they are aware not to ask mom's best friend's cousin.

    whether they exist or not I found that all foods cited as "negative calorie" were so low in calories that they'd hardly count towards your daily total anyway. the same again that if you were to just eat those foods exclusively, they may not be negative calorie but you would definitely lose a lot of weight, which is the desire when one eats "negative calorie" foods, well i assume it is anyway.

    EAT MORE BROCCOLI MAN, it's delicious.
  • caraiselite
    caraiselite Posts: 2,631 Member
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?

    someone didn't see her question, lol.
  • xarge
    xarge Posts: 484 Member
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    It's just cellulose BS and vegan crusade (no offense to vegans). The list is a random composition of fruits and vegetables with the spotlight on celery, which of course has the most water and cellulose and little nutritional value. People should try an apple diet instead since it's on the list as well.

    Mockery.

    The vegetables are of course good for you, they're good fiber sources and the fiber (cellulose!) creates a feeling of fullness but that list and theory is just grrr....
  • xarge
    xarge Posts: 484 Member
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    whether they exist or not I found that all foods cited as "negative calorie" were so low in calories that they'd hardly count towards your daily total anyway.

    Then you didn't see the fruits on that list. Below are:
    Apple
    Blueberries
    Cantaloupe
    Cranberry
    Grapefruit
    Honeydew
    Lemon/Lime
    Mango
    Orange
    Papaya
    Peach
    Pineapple
    Raspberry
    Strawberry
    Tomato
    Tangerine
    Watermelon
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?

    What do you mean Elves and Hobbits don't exist ? :sad:
  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,344 Member
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    Then you didn't see the fruits on that list. Below are:
    Orange
    Let's use the orange as an example. From the MFP database, 1 cup of raw navel oranges has 21 grams of carbs and 2 grams of protein, which equates to 92 calories (4 calories/gram for carbs and protein). According to the article I linked to, carbs have a TEF of approximately 5-6%, proteins are around 20-30%. Let's use the highest values for maximum effect. Of the 8 protein calories, we'll burn off 2.4 and keep 5.6; of the 84 carb calories, TEF will eliminate 5.04 and retain 78.96. So out of the total 92 calories, TEF will account for 7.44 calories, leaving a net intake of 84.56 calories. Hardly "negative calorie" food.
  • rjt1000
    rjt1000 Posts: 700 Member
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?

    ??? I'm just asking for some real scientific info, not "yeah, Dr. Oz says so" or the equivalent. I'm curious because I've seen people rant and rave on both sides of the argument but NOBODY actually puts out any real factual data that I've seen other than links that all tie back to a single source, something along the lines of "Dr. Oz says so" which, as I said, isn't really saying much.

    So, do you think there are elves or negative calorie foods?
  • Maria_T007
    Maria_T007 Posts: 107
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    dude, just because you can bring up google pages on stuff doesnt make it true. i can search and find millions of pages on hobbits and elves, but they dont exist..i'd trust what the scientists who get paid to research this stuff say rather than your mom's best friend's cousin.

    and even if there were such a thing, what would you do, eat pounds and pounds of celery and hot peppers every day?


    Exactly!!!

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