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How are calories calculated in food items?

Updated: 9/7/2023
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Alyssaedwards

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14y ago

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The technical calculation is the amount of heat needed to increase the temperature of 1 ml. of water 1 degree is one calorie.

Different foods have different calorie counts per gram:

Carbohydrate - 4 calories

Protein - 4 calories

Fat - 9 calories

Alcohol - 7 calories

For more information see the link below.

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Wiki User

13y ago
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13y ago

Essentially calorie is just another unit for energy. Therefore by using the unit conversion below any energy value in joules can be converted to calories.

Multiply value in joules by 4.184 to convert to calories.

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Wiki User

14y ago

Your body uses calories for everything it does, including merely staying alive. Even if you lie perfectly still all day, your body still has to use a certain number of calories a day just to maintain your current levels of fat and muscle, as well as to keep your heart beating, lungs moving, etc.

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14y ago

Food is burned. A sample of the food is placed in an insulated, oxygen-filled chamber that is surrounded by water; this chamber is called a bomb calorimeter. The sample is burned completely. The heat from the burning increases the temperature of the water, which is measured and which indicates the number of calories in the food. For example, if water temperature increases by 20 degrees, the food contains 20 calories. This method of measuring calories is called direct calorimetry.

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10y ago

To calculate the number of Calories in your diet, you need to know the number of grams of each of the three types of foods you are consuming. If you drink, then it's important to include the number of grams of alcohol consumed also.

The "Nutrition Facts" required on every food label tell you how many grams of total carbohydrates, protein and total fats are contained in one serving of that food. For carbohydrates, the label will usually list the amount of sugars separately, but don't worry about that, just look at "Total Carbohydrates." The same is true for fats. The label will usually list the amount of saturated fat and unsaturated fat, but all you need to worry about is the "Total Fat" number. Be sure to look at the "Serving Size" near the top of the label because sometimes the serving size is ridiculously small. If the serving size is 20 grams (g), and the box or jar contains 40 g and you ate the whole box, then of course you would have to multiply the number of grams per serving for each component by two to get the total number of Calories consumed.

Sometimes the amount of, say, carbohydrates is given in grams, but the serving size is given in ounces. In that case, you will need to convert the serving size in ounces to grams. This is not hard to do because you only have to remember one number to do the conversion. Write down or remember that one ounce (in weight, not volume) equals 28 g. For example, if the serving size is 2.5 oz, then calculate the number of grams this way: 2.5 oz x 28 g/oz = 70 g.

Now, maybe you want to keep a small chart showing how many Calories there are per gram of each type of nutrient. It should look something like this:

Carbohydrates, sugars plus starch..... 4 Calories per gram

Protein..... 4 Calories per gram

Fats or Oils..... 9 Calories per gram

Alcohol..... 7 Calories per gram

Now you can keep a quite accurate total of the number of Calories consumed.

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12y ago

These days people are more and more concerned with the number of calories in the foods that they eat than ever before. Everyone is able to read the labels on food containers and determine exactly how many calories are contained in each type of food. Understanding what calories are and how they are calculated is an entirely different story. This guide shows you how the calories that you see end up on the labels.

What is a calorie?

The first step to understanding how to calculate the number of calories in the food that you eat is to learn what a calorie is. A calorie is a unit of measurement used for energy. Although food labels list "calories," it is actually reporting kilocalories, or units of 1,000 calories. A calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. The number of calories is calculated by placing the food in a sealed container surrounded by water. The food is burned and the resulting rise in temperature determines the number of calories contained in the food. This method is not used very often anymore, as it is prone to error.

Calculating calories in your food

Today, there is a much more convenient and easier way to calculate the calories in food. After many years of using the old system to determine the calorie count, an easier way of finding out the number of calories in a particular food has emerged. All foods contain protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Protein and carbohydrates both contain four calories per gram, and fat weighs in at nine calories per gram. With this information, one can simply total up the protein, carbohydrate, and fat content to determine the calories count. For example, if a food product has five grams of protein, eight grams of carbohydrates and three grams of fat, then it contains 79 Calories.

Counting calories is as easy as knowing the number of grams of each nutrient and fat in the food and calculating from the known values.

Diet-conscious Americans count calories more than ever these days, and that trend is not likely to abate any time soon. This health conscious nation is going to continue to watch the amount of calories that they consume in order to move toward a healthier future.

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14y ago

Definition of a Calorie is "The amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one Centigrade degree"

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11y ago

bowl of cereal with tablespoon sugar

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9y ago

eggs+milk+bread

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