what are "kcal" ?

[ViolentG]

Hi, on the back of food is **** like "enrgy 2031kj/485 kcal" what is the kcal? is it summat to do with calories? and is there a way to figure out how many calories from it?

[Aftershock]

kilocalories

kcals=1000 calories. When calorie is spelled with a capital C it also means kcals. The Calories on nutrition labels are actually kcals.

[Diab0lic]

kilocalories

kcals=100 calories. When calorie is spelled with a capital C it also means kcals. The Calories on nutrition labels are actually kcals.

Correct except kilo is the prefix meaning x1000 not x100

[Aftershock]

Correct except kilo is the prefix meaning x1000 not x100

Yea i meant to type 1000 oops. I'll go edit it. Thanks bro.

[ViolentG]

i see, so if a food lable has 485 kcal per 100g, then that means for every 100g of that food i eat im consuming 485,000 calories? that cant be right or do i divide it to get 0.485... that looks wrong too... im confuddled O_o

[Aftershock]

i see, so if a food lable has 485 kcal per 100g, then that means for every 100g of that food i eat im consuming 485,000 calories? that cant be right or do i divide it to get 0.485... that looks wrong too... im confuddled O_o

what food is it?

[ViolentG]

lol, i grabbed the closest thing to hand, an old tube of maltesers i got with an easter egg! lol. but still, is there a way to calculate calories from the kcal bit? coz it dont say how many calories, nor do many other foods

[CBraver]

Aftershock is correct.

Chemists use kcals and cals instead of cals and Cals, for obvious reasons. But nutrition facts and such use Cals for the ease of understanding (I assume).

-Chad

[clevertd]

It's easier for the general public to understand, because they aren't seeing all those zeros. We had a discussion on it in my biochemistry class a while back.. a calorie is actually very small, whereas a Calorie is what is on the nutrition labels. . just like the above posts stated. Not to mention this standard saves ink.

[helloyo]

hehe, and a calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1mL of water. so say you have a 500C (kilocalorie) meal you consumed enough energy to heat 6L of room temp water to boiling point.

[ViolentG]

aaaaah, (light bulb lights up above head, flickers a bit then goes out) i think i get it now! ur sayin a calorie as us simpleminded folk know it, and a kcal are one and the same. so my malteaser which are 485kcal per 100g are 485 calories per 100g! why didnt ya just say that to begin with!!!

[Diab0lic]

A calorie is 4.184 joules or the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water from 15 to 16 degrees Celsius (or 1/100th the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water at one atmosphere pressure from 0 degrees C to 100 degrees C). Theseare used in physics/chemistry.

Food Calories are actually equal to 1,000 calories (1 food Calorie = 1 kilocalorie or 4.184 kilojoules). One Calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water the same amount as described above.

1000 calories = 1 Calorie

[BRADP2]

A calorie is 4.184 joules or the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of one gram of water from 15 to 16 degrees Celsius (or 1/100th the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water at one atmosphere pressure from 0 degrees C to 100 degrees C). Theseare used in physics/chemistry.

Food Calories are actually equal to 1,000 calories (1 food Calorie = 1 kilocalorie or 4.184 kilojoules). One Calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water the same amount as described above.

1000 calories = 1 Calorie

Someone had chemistry/physics class today

[Diab0lic]

Someone had chemistry/physics class today

lol

[BritBoy]

aaaaah, (light bulb lights up above head, flickers a bit then goes out) i think i get it now! ur sayin a calorie as us simpleminded folk know it, and a kcal are one and the same. so my malteaser which are 485kcal per 100g are 485 calories per 100g! why didnt ya just say that to begin with!!!

You got it!

[ViolentG]

me clever

[Sebstar]

i know people said that a calorie is the energy required to raise the temperature of 1ml of water. fyi you should also include that:
1cal = 1ml raised by a temperature of 1 degree celsius.