What is a Calorie?
September 24th, 2007 by admin
A calorie is a unit of energy, defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water up 1 degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
When applied to food, we say a Calorie but we mean a kilocalorie (1000 calories). The number of Calories gives us an idea of the potential energy that we intake when we eat a particular food. This can easily be calculated with the following formula:
- 1 gram of Protein* = 4 Calories
- 1 gram of Carbohydrate* = 4 Calories
- 1 gram of Fat* = 9 Calories
- 1 gram of Alcohol = 7 Calories
Therefore Calories can be calculated simply by knowing the amount of these three building blocks* in the food.
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