All calories are not created equally

poodlelaise
poodlelaise Posts: 149 Member
in Food and Nutrition
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/2012/08/27/the-hidden-truths-about-calories/

This article reports findings of studies that show the same food can produce different calorie counts in different individuals, or in the same individual depending on how it is prepared. I thought it was very interestings and wanted to share.

Replies

  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    I stopped reading here: "Just this month, a new study by Janet Novotny and colleagues at the USDA found that when the “average” person eats almonds she receives just 128 calories per serving rather than the 170 calories “on the label.”"

    Because I like that answer LOL...off to read the rest.
  • omma_to_3
    omma_to_3 Posts: 3,265 Member
    Finished the article and there are some interesting ideas in it. It doesn't really help us much, as it's all still in the theory stage (mostly) but I wouldn't be surprised if much of it were true. If only there were individual ways to measure such things!
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    I agree, wouldn't suprise me one bit if there is some truth in what they're saying (and this is different than last week's "not all calories are created equal").

    I've always had the greatest success losing weight on a high protein diet that also includes lots of fiberous carbs from whole foods.
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member
    Could this be the beginning of the end for those two moth-eaten MFP memes: 1. A calorie is a calorie; and
    2. You're not a special snowflake?

    The flock is going to be out of sorts over this one.
  • jjefferies7
    jjefferies7 Posts: 120
    how is this proof on this topic? I see absolutely no actual cited studies in this article.

    and "a new study by so and so" is not proof when the study is not even shown or cited.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
    I tend to believe that each of us is a special snowflake, even the ones that just mimic the crowd.
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
    Yes, it's the way a person digests the food, it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that food items naturally vary in calories, and that the information on the label is just an averaged estimate, rather than an exact number...

    2 identical apples can have wildly different calorie counts. Food varies. Animals vary, plants vary. Just like no 2 human beings have the exact same body composition, no 2 plants or animals have the exact same body composition. Oh, and before people say the food samples were tested for calorie content before they were eaten, no they weren't, as the only real way to test a food item's calorie content is to burn it and measure the heat expended (calories are a measure of heat.)
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    They also illuminate a weakness in current food labeling practices, which systematically overestimate the caloric potential of poorly processed foods.

    http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/10/31/1112128108.abstract
    Energetic consequences of thermal and nonthermal food processing

    Rachel N. Carmodya,1, Gil S. Weintrauba, and Richard W. Wrangham Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Nov. 2011
  • beckajw
    beckajw Posts: 1,728 Member
    Could this be the beginning of the end for those two moth-eaten MFP memes: 1. A calorie is a calorie; and
    2. You're not a special snowflake?

    The flock is going to be out of sorts over this one.

    Very mature response.
  • Spartan_Maker
    Spartan_Maker Posts: 683 Member

    The flock is going to be out of sorts over this one.

    Very mature response.

    Your Honor, I trust that we can take judicial notice of this indisputable fact.
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    I felt like somebody lit a cherry bomb and it didn't go off...bumping to reignite the fuse.
  • Carol_L
    Carol_L Posts: 296 Member
    Ultimately, both cases cited by previous posters involved mice. Mice are not humans. Their metabolisms are sufficiently different than that of H. Sapiens as to make the studies interesting, but hardly definitive.
  • raeleek
    raeleek Posts: 414 Member
    Could this be the beginning of the end for those two moth-eaten MFP memes: 1. A calorie is a calorie; and
    2. You're not a special snowflake?

    The flock is going to be out of sorts over this one.


    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
  • taylor5877
    taylor5877 Posts: 1,792 Member
    Great, more of our tax dollars just thrown out the window on an irrelevant study...

    /eyeroll

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