What are calories?

Which is more important? caloriesand kilocalories?

"Current "calorie" we refer to in the food industry is actually Kilocalorie. One (1) Kilocalorie is the equivalent of one (1) Calorie (uppercase C). Kilocalories refer to the amount of heat required to raise the temperature in one kilogram of water to one degree Celsius.

How do you determine determined the caloric value of food determined?

One could believe it's because of the way they can lead to weight gain. But no. Not so.

Avery excellent question to be asked because most people do not have a solid understanding the concept of calories. First off, a calorie is not something and , therefore, cannot be full or empty. You can't put calories into bottles. A calorie is a unit of measure of energy. Very specifically, it is an amount that is required to raise the temperature of an mL, (which is also one grams), of water by one degree Celsius. If you truly want to be an obsessive about particulars, it's that energy that is required to raise your temperature by 14.5 or 15.5 inches C. The word calorie was actually coined by the great French chemical engineer Antoine Lavoisier who used it to refer to your body's heat.

A food calorieis more or less a "kilocalorie." In other words , it's the quantity of energy required to raise the temperature of one 1 liter of water by 1 degree. In the beginning, the calorie content of food was determined using the form of a calorimeter. A predetermined amount of food that had an amount of water evaporated, was placed in a jar that was surrounded by a certain size of liquid. The container was then sealed oxygen piped in and the food was then ignited. By the increase in temperature of the water and the food, the calorie content of the food was calculated.

There were problems, however with this kind process of calorie determination. Food can contain ingredients like fiber, for example, that be burned in a calorimeter, but are not absorbed by the bloodstream, which means they don't contribute calories. Today, producers use the "Atwater indirect system" to calculate calories by adding the calories generated by the energy-rich nutrients: carbohydrate, protein fat, alcohol and. Since carbohydrates have fiber that isn't digested and utilized within the organism, the fiber component is usually subtracted from the total carbohydrate before taking into account the calories.

The Atwater system uses the average values of 4 Kcal/g for protein, 4 Kcal/g for carbohydrate and 9 Kcal/g to describe fat, and 7 Kcal/g for alcohol. The values were determined by burning these substances using a calorimeter. (There may be some rounding off because simple sugars provide somewhat less and polysaccharides slightly more than 4 Kcal/g). This is why the label on the 45 gram KitKat that has 3 grams of protein, 29 grams of carbohydrate (22 grams of which are sugars that are simple) and 12 grams of fat would read 230 Calories.

Some fascinating data is uncovered from these analysis. It is found that the caloriecontent that is contained in doughnuts of about 500 Kcal is found as being close to the amount of a dynamite stick. It is evident that the energy produced by dynamite is released instantly when ignited, while the doughnut releases its energy content in the body slower. So you don't blow up from the doughnut. In fact, not at all.