# Food Calories-O-meter? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 3, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-calories-o-meter/9654 "2000-04-03T12:28:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-calories-o-meter/9654/1 "2000-04-03T12:28:00Z")
How do we know for sure how much energy is released when 1 gram of sugar is metabolised by the body? Do they have a handy-dandy food calorie meter? * * * “They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2000, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-calories-o-meter/9654/2 "2000-04-03T15:13:00Z")
It turns out that they do have a calorimeter. Check out [Cecil’s column](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_097a.html) on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-calories-o-meter/9654/3 "2000-04-04T05:24:00Z")
Well, actually…I knew that, but! In the chemistry field, they ARE called bomb calorimeters to determine heats of reaction. BUT! I didn’t think food energy was determined in this fashion! How can they be sure that the energy released during combustion is totally equivalent to metabolism??? I mean, I can burn paper and get out more energy than if I tried to digest paper…a flame is less discriminating! FYI: A guy I knew DID travel through airports with such a device (as part of his job) and the x-ray people didn’t even question him! And, this was during a time of heightened awareness no less! * * * “They’re coming to take me away ha-ha, ho-ho, hee-hee, to the funny farm where life is beautiful all the time… :)” - Napoleon IV ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2000, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-calories-o-meter/9654/4 "2000-04-03T18:49:00Z")
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