{"id":19777,"date":"2025-10-13T13:41:44","date_gmt":"2025-10-13T17:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foodmedcenter.org\/?p=19777"},"modified":"2025-10-15T10:04:30","modified_gmt":"2025-10-15T14:04:30","slug":"study-spotlight-take-away-with-chef-dr-mike-the-caloric-myth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foodmedcenter.org\/es_mx\/study-spotlight-take-away-with-chef-dr-mike-the-caloric-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Caloric Myth:Beyond Thermodynamics: Why Not All Calories \u2014 or Zero Calories \u2014 Are Created Equal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Study Spotlight Take-Away With Chef Dr. Mike:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cIn my opinion, it has never been proven that food even has calories. When I bite into a hamburger, I see pickle and ketchup and bun and meat, but if there’s a calorie in there, it must be hidden.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2015<\/em>W. Bruce Cameron<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Despite its origin as a way to calculate the efficiency of steam engines during the Industrial Revolution, the caloric value of food continues to be conflated with its health value, as if a calorie from a Snickers bar has the equivalent health value as a calorie from an apple. Richard D Feinman and Eugene Fine eloquently addressed the idea that \u201ca calorie is a calorie\u201d over two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea that a calorie is a calorie has its origins in the realm of thermodynamic bookkeeping. As such, it is subject to the Laws of Thermodynamics, which is not just a collection of good ideas; it\u2019s The Law. The First Law of Thermodynamics says energy can\u2019t be created or destroyed.  However, the first law does not <\/em>specify that every calorie will end up doing the same \u201cuseful work\u201d in your body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As everyone in medicine knows, science is lovely and often neat, but real people are messy and complicated. A calorie is calculated by incinerating an object to ash in a bomb calorimeter and measuring how much heat it produces. A calorie is the measure of the heat required to raise 1 kg of water 1\u00b0C at 1 atm pressure. When you eat and your body breaks down macronutrients like fat, carbs, and protein, it doesn\u2019t convert all of that potential energy into usable energy or storage. Some of it is \u201cwasted\u201d as heat, and some is used in other processes. That\u2019s The Second Law of Thermodynamics in action, nothing in life is 100% efficient or free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because the constituents found in the foods we eat are processed differently in your body, they go through various and different biochemical pathways, resulting in different amounts of \u201cwaste\u201d or inefficiency. So, two diets with the exact calorie count but different macronutrient ratios give different net usable energy after accounting for those losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the pathways differ depending on what you eat, as research has shown, then two isocaloric (same-calorie) diets lead to different weight outcomes. In fact, Feinman and Fine suggest that rigidly viewing that \u201ca calorie is a calorie\u201d regardless of its origin actually violates The Second Law of Thermodynamics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So simply equating the health value of the food based on its caloric content is fundamentally flawed. If we follow that path, it ultimately leads us to the idea that zero-calorie foods, like diet drinks, are inherently healthier than drinks that contain more calories, regardless of their ingredients. This perspective has become so popularized and promoted that it is often considered the conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week\u2019s Study Spotlight focuses on a recent abstract\/presentation that adds to the body of literature refuting this position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Study:<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n