Chicken Calories

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Tilran
Tilran Posts: 626 Member
Ok, so have you ever looked close to the packaging on chicken breasts? Lets take Perdue Chicken for example.

They have different values cooked/uncooked. Most likely due to moisture loss I assume. I am confused however because the fat goes up as uncooked its 10 calories out of 120 (8.3%), and cooked it is 10 calories out of 100 (10%).

What gives, anyone know why this happens? I've always logged my chicken before cooked, but you figure at half a pound of chicken, you are actually eating 2oz less then you originally thought? Hmmm

See below:

**UNCOOKED**

Serving Size 4 oz (112g)

Servings Per Container Varied

Amount Per Serving (* % of Daily Value)

Calories 120

Calories from Fat 10

Total Fat 1g (2%)

Saturated Fat 0g (0%)

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 65mg (22%)

Sodium 75mg (3%)

Total Carbohydrate 0g (0%)

Dietary Fiber 0g (0%)

Sugars 0g

Protein 26g

Vitamin A 0%

Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 2%

Iron 4%

******************************************

**COOKED**

Serving Size 3 oz (84g)

Servings Per Container Varied

Amount Per Serving (* % of Daily Value)

Calories 100

Calories from Fat 10

Total Fat 1g (2%)

Saturated Fat 0g (0%)

Trans Fat 0g

Cholesterol 65mg (18%)

Sodium 75mg (3%)

Total Carbohydrate 0g (0%)

Dietary Fiber 0g (0%)

Sugars 0g

Protein 26g

Vitamin A 0%

Vitamin C 2%

Calcium 2%

Iron 4%

Replies

  • tkjuggler
    tkjuggler Posts: 11 Member
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    Tilran!
    I am impressed with your detailed reading...

    All I know is that when you heat up some food in order to eat it...it has more kcals than when it is room temperature or cold.
  • CJSCHUYLER
    CJSCHUYLER Posts: 29 Member
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    From what i am gathering it is deff due to the water loss causing the meat to be more dense which that would make the counts change. From looking at your posting i see they did make a change in the weight of the food serving to, i think, compinsate for the water. I am not a mathmatics guy or a nutrition expert so that particular case is still a bit hard to understand. I did look it up on a few websites and did some comparisons to other sites and all i can gather is the density of the meat itself after it has been cooked.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    All I know is that when you heat up some food in order to eat it...it has more kcals than when it is room temperature or cold.

    sounds legit
  • Tilran
    Tilran Posts: 626 Member
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    Do you think that when they put 3oz cooked they are trying to manipulate the numbers or that 4oz cooks down to 3oz?

    I know in red meat such as burgers, you will have a 1/2 pound patty reduce down to 1/4 pound or so, but I believe that is due to fat being cooked off...in chicken, there is very little fat, so what is reducing the serving size in the description of the OP?

    I cant tell if they are trying to say 4oz after cooking turns to 3oz, or if they just give you a 3oz portion serving size when cooked to offset the fact it gained calories from fat.
  • Tw1zzler
    Tw1zzler Posts: 583
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    The database has values for raw or various cooking methods.
  • Chief_Rocka
    Chief_Rocka Posts: 4,710 Member
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    Do you think that when they put 3oz cooked they are trying to manipulate the numbers or that 4oz cooks down to 3oz?

    I know in red meat such as burgers, you will have a 1/2 pound patty reduce down to 1/4 pound or so, but I believe that is due to fat being cooked off...in chicken, there is very little fat, so what is reducing the serving size in the description of the OP?

    I cant tell if they are trying to say 4oz after cooking turns to 3oz, or if they just give you a 3oz portion serving size when cooked to offset the fact it gained calories from fat.

    4oz cooks down to 3oz, it's water loss