Food retailers underestimating calorie content

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nas061
nas061 Posts: 256 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Interesting article in today's Guardian newspaper.

"Dieters who eat high-fibre foods consume more calories than they think because retailers' calorie count system is out of date"

"But the system overestimated, often by 10% or more, the caloric value of some protein-rich foods which can take more energy to digest than simple carbohydrate food, such as white bread."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/feb/18/food-retailers-underestimating-calorie-content

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  • TeachTheGirl
    TeachTheGirl Posts: 2,091 Member
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    I was just discussing with my husband yesterday about the horse meat scandal in the UK and how if they're able to put '100% beef' on a label and mislead consumers, I wondered if they were doing similar with calorie/nutritional information.

    Definitely makes you think.
  • Tunia85
    Tunia85 Posts: 212 Member
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    Ugh... they really should update their system. When we look at the calorie count WE BELIEVE they've done the scientific research needed to sell those foods. Time for a change....
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
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    Cooked vs raw? Really. That is going to far. We all know the way we prepare our food alters the nutritional content. There would be no room on the label for anything if they took into account the way foods are prepared.

    In the US manufacturers are allowed to round numbers. The 2 calories per gram of fiber would be part of the rounding anyways.

    Honestly just sounds like a "primal" proponent making a spin to get his ideas out there.
  • clover5
    clover5 Posts: 1,643 Member
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    Honestly, I think I gained weight from eating too many cookies, cake and ice cream, rather than a miscalculation of calories by the food retailers. And there is no way that the retailer can report what the cooked calories will be, because there are so many ways to cook. For instance, stirfry carrots will have more calories than boiled carrots.

    This is an interesting article, but the blame for eating too many calories lies with me.
  • _noob_
    _noob_ Posts: 3,306 Member
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    I find even tracking 100% trimmed steak WAY overestimates my calories on steak (usually sirloin) for me. I never feel like I'm even in the ballpark on a day where I eat a lot of steak.

    If I go a few days per week eating 1-1.5 lbs of steak per day (not unusual for me) weight just flies off from what I'm guessing is an overestimation of calories.

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