Is a calorie a calorie?

Mac_MFP
Mac_MFP Posts: 10 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This is the best article I have read so far on this topic. It is very detailed: http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/79/5/899S.full

Replies

  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."


    lool problem solved.

    next up. "is a centimetre a centimetre"

    cant wait for the old is yard a yard debate.
  • Iron_Lotus
    Iron_Lotus Posts: 2,295 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."



    Your picture makes me hungry
  • tootoop224
    tootoop224 Posts: 281 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."



    Your picture makes me hungry
    I know!!! What is that?
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."



    Your picture makes me hungry

    I know right?
  • kugelette
    kugelette Posts: 25
    "Diets high in protein and/or low in carbohydrate produced an ≈2.5-kg greater weight loss after 12 wk of treatment. Neither macronutrient-specific differences in the availability of dietary energy nor changes in energy expenditure could explain these differences in weight loss. Thermodynamics dictate that a calorie is a calorie regardless of the macronutrient composition of the diet."

    In other words, a calorie isn't a calorie in practical terms of losing weight. A calorie is certainly not a calorie in the presence of insulin resistance, which many overweight people have.
  • nikilis
    nikilis Posts: 2,305 Member
    "We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another."



    Your picture makes me hungry
    I know!!! What is that?

    deep fried burger strikes again.

    bear-grylls-meme-generator-thread-is-derailed-better-drink-my-own-piss-a4a863.jpg
  • aelunyu
    aelunyu Posts: 486 Member
    Foster et al:

    HP diet for 24 wk, 6.9 kg; HC diet for 24 wk, 3.1 kg; difference: P = 0.02
    HP diet for 52 wk, 4.3 kg; HC diet for 52 wk, 2.4 kg; difference: P = 0.26

    Study parameters already tell you the whole story. In the first study, only the 12wk subjects showed a p value of significance (<0.001). This tracks with the long overstudied notion that yes, in the acute phase (perhaps due to TEF values of protein being higher than other macros) that the body sheds more weight. But as diets drag into the 24, 52 week ranges, P values of 0.02, and 0.26 indicate that the longer you stay on a HP diet, the less it becomes effective.

    Brehm et al and Skov et al

    These studies are both skewed grossly, and still somehow produce an almost non-signifigance. HC group eats 500 extra calories than HP group just by default, and this is not explained as to why in Skov

    In Brehm, there is about a 100 kcal higher intake for the HC group. This is the ONLY study, where there may be some correlation that is unexplained.

    The rest of the studies below are NS or hold P-Values that are 0.02 or above, which shows little or no correlation.

    Which leads to the eventual conclusion: A calorie is a calorie.
  • h9dlb
    h9dlb Posts: 243 Member
    A calorie is not a calorie - carbs are quickly converted to energy, cause an insulin spike and make you more hungry - excess is stored as fat.

    Good fat calories such as monos and efa actually help you burn fat.

    Protein calories are more satiating, are harder for your body to digest, therefore have a greater thermic effect (your body uses more calories digesting protein than other macros) and excess protein calories tend to be excreted in urine rather than all being stored as fat.

    Top and bottom of it is eat high protein, moderate good mono and poly fat and low carb
  • FunkyTobias
    FunkyTobias Posts: 1,776 Member
    A calorie is not a calorie - carbs are quickly converted to energy, cause an insulin spike and make you more hungry - excess is stored as fat.

    Good fat calories such as monos and efa actually help you burn fat.

    Protein calories are more satiating, are harder for your body to digest, therefore have a greater thermic effect (your body uses more calories digesting protein than other macros) and excess protein calories tend to be excreted in urine rather than all being stored as fat.

    Top and bottom of it is eat high protein, moderate good mono and poly fat and low carb

    LOL. No.

    Carbs are rarely stored as fat. DeNovo Lipogenesis is not an efficient process, rarely occurs in humans.

    Stop getting your information from Gary Taubes, he's wrong about nearly everything.
  • LolBroScience
    LolBroScience Posts: 4,537 Member
    A calorie is not a calorie - carbs are quickly converted to energy, cause an insulin spike and make you more hungry - excess is stored as fat.

    Good fat calories such as monos and efa actually help you burn fat.

    Protein calories are more satiating, are harder for your body to digest, therefore have a greater thermic effect (your body uses more calories digesting protein than other macros) and excess protein calories tend to be excreted in urine rather than all being stored as fat.

    Top and bottom of it is eat high protein, moderate good mono and poly fat and low carb

    bro.science.
  • rogerbosch
    rogerbosch Posts: 343 Member
    A calorie is not a calorie - carbs are quickly converted to energy, cause an insulin spike and make you more hungry - excess is stored as fat.

    Good fat calories such as monos and efa actually help you burn fat.

    Protein calories are more satiating, are harder for your body to digest, therefore have a greater thermic effect (your body uses more calories digesting protein than other macros) and excess protein calories tend to be excreted in urine rather than all being stored as fat.

    Top and bottom of it is eat high protein, moderate good mono and poly fat and low carb
    You clearly haven't read (or understood) the article which distinguishes gross energy from metabolizable energy. Which means that a calorie is a calorie is a unit of energy, but how the body utilizes that energy is depending on a number of other factors (e.g. composition of macro nutrients)…

    I have measured my own progress over this first half year, and the diagram clearly shows that, although a calorie is a calorie, the amount of calories has no direct negative effect on weight loss (in kg)

    weight_1.jpg?async&0.9041326625738293

    OP, thanks for the interesting article.

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