All calories are not necessarily equal

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  • NikoM5
    NikoM5 Posts: 488 Member
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    That's why I added "Necessarily".

    But I do apologize and will endeavor to get my next title just perfect. Perhaps I could email you a draft beforehand?
  • uconnwinsnc
    uconnwinsnc Posts: 1,054 Member
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    A calorie is. "The amount of heat required at a pressure of one atmosphere to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius that is equal to about 4.19 joules." So yes, 1 calorie is 1 calorie. Of course, the nutritional value of all calories is not equal and all food is not processed equally in the body. A diamond is a diamond, some go on rings and some go on the edges of saws.
  • parkscs
    parkscs Posts: 1,639 Member
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    Yes, they are exactly equal. Just like all volts are equal, all gallons are equal, all inches are equal. All are units of measure. This really isn't hard.

    They not NOT equal in terms of how the body processes them. This really isn't hard.

    Then the title of your thread should read " The body doesnt necessarily process calories equally" First grade level, maybe even K5. But hey, it sparked a discussion and most of the time that is good.

    It seems clear the OP was directing the title at the people who so commonly regurgitate "calories in, calories out" without paying any attention to how the macronutritional composition of your food can affect your body and how that plays a role in "calories in, calories out." I don't believe he's suggesting 1 unit != 1 unit, but rather saying that the source of your calories plays a role too.
  • NikoM5
    NikoM5 Posts: 488 Member
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    It seems clear the OP was directing the title at the people who so commonly regurgitate "calories in, calories out" without paying any attention to how the macronutritional composition of your food can affect your body and how that plays a role in "calories in, calories out." I don't believe he's suggesting 1 unit != 1 unit, but rather saying that the source of your calories plays a role too.

    Yes, thank you. I too thought that was rather clear but oh well. I suspect the title nit-pickers did not actually read the article.
  • KaylaBushman
    KaylaBushman Posts: 69
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    First off, waay interesting!

    Secondly, what I gathered (correct me if I am wrong) along with many points others have mentioned, is that

    A serving of nuts LABELED 150 calories, and a brownie that is also LABELED 150 calories may be incorrectly labeled on a personal level because the nuts are not fully absorbed/used where as the brownie is more fully absorbed/used because it is already broke down considerable more than the nuts.

    What this translate to is that while the serving of nuts sitting on the table are INDEED 150 calories what your body absorbs is only 130 calories and it gets rid of the rest through waste whereas the 150 calorie brownie sitting on the counter is more fully absorbed translating to 145 calories that your body actually absorbs/uses.

    So the nuts are really both units of energy, 150 sitting on the counter but only 130 in one persons body or 135 in another persons body.

    I agree that this is still not significant enough to do anything about since what we have now works just fine, but it is still terribly interesting.
  • marko320
    marko320 Posts: 84 Member
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    I just read an article http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/03/140307-calories-nutrition-processed-labels-wrangham-diet-paleo-raw-food/ and it prompted me to search for this thread so I wouldn't repost. Enjoy.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
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    The title should be 'a calorie is equal until you pop it in your mouth - then all bets are off!' ????

    As long as you burn more than you store - everything else is just gravy.

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