Since calorie is a measure of energy, so what does it mean when, for example, alcohol, having “empty calories”? What kind of energy is being measured here?
In: 1389
From an energy perspective all calories are equal.
But from a nutritional perspective, the health effect from 50 calories obtained from eating an egg are very different from say 50 calories obtained from eating a spoon of sugar.
While it is easy to count calories when measuring dietary requirements, we must be mindful that saying you need 2000 calories a day does not mean you can survive on just 500 grams of sugar a day.
Your body needs vitamins and minerals and even fiber. But calories from sugar don’t give you any of those, they are “empty” of such nutrients.
So “empty calories” typically refer to such calories from sugar or similar simple carbs like glucose.
Latest Answers