# What is the part of food that isn't protein, carbs or fat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 26, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987 "2015-08-26T21:11:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/1 "2015-08-26T21:11:15Z")
I was just looking up the nutritional info on a 4oz hot dog. It said that the fat, protein and carbs added up to about 53 grams. 4oz is about 112g. What is the other 59 grams? Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/2 "2015-08-26T21:16:20Z")
Mostly water. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/3 "2015-08-26T21:43:39Z")
Undigestible fiber? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/4 "2015-08-26T21:43:43Z")
Yes, mostly water. For other foods like vegetables there could be some fiber in there. For a hot dog there’s an appreciable weight of salt. According to the nutrition information for a random 4oz hot dog there’s 1.4 grams of sodium which means about another 2.1 grams of chloride. So 3.5 grams of salt. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/5 "2015-08-26T22:05:35Z")
Almost entirely water, as mentioned above. In the case of a hot dog, the difference is more than 98% explained by water. See the nutrient data on a typical uncooked hot dog [here](http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/1611?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=35&offset=&sort=&qlookup=hot+dog) where you will find that it is about 54% water. The most common type of fiber, cellulose, is a type of carbohydrate and is included under the carbohydrate heading on US nutrition labels even though humans cannot extract calories from it. Some types of fiber are not chemically carbohydrates (lignin and some gums like guar gum). I’m not sure how they’re handled on nutrient labels. Ash is a minor component of most foods. It’s what’s left over after all the organic material is burned off. It is composed mostly of minerals including salt. Not hot dogs, but some foods contain ethyl alcohol (the kind that gets you drunk) but it’s not usually listed on nutrient labels. Ethyl alcohol has about 7 kilocalories per gram. Some foods contain the so-called sugar alcohols including glycerol and xylitol, which are chemically alcohols (though not the kind that can get you drunk). They are included under the carbohydrate heading of US nutrient labels (even though they’re not chemically carbohydrates) because they’re sweet and are metabolized somewhat like carbohydrates and have a similar calorie content per gram. ---
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/6 "2015-08-26T22:17:25Z")
Water, of course. I should have realized that. Thanks ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/7 "2015-08-26T23:47:12Z")
Rat hairs. OK, I’m going, you don’t have to shove. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2015, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/8 "2015-08-26T23:59:13Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Rat hairs. > > OK, I’m going, you don’t have to shove. Rat turds weigh more. (that’s not a caper! :eek:) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/9 "2015-08-27T00:01:08Z")
Nah, rat hair is mostly protein. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/10 "2015-08-27T00:03:30Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Nah, rat hair is mostly protein. As is the hog anus. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/11 "2015-08-27T00:04:45Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Nah, rat hair is mostly protein. But is it assimilable prot…what am I saying? :smack: ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/12 "2015-08-27T03:32:05Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Rat turds weigh more. (that’s not a caper! :eek:) Their nutritional content, of course, depends on the rat’s diet. Ironic if it’s hot dogs. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/13 "2015-08-27T14:33:03Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Their nutritional content, of course, depends on the rat’s diet. Ironic if it’s hot dogs. Ironic, but not surprising, given that the rat in question lives in a hot dog factory. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2015, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/14 "2015-08-27T15:27:20Z")
> [@dasmoocher](#): > > Rat turds weigh more. (that’s not a caper! :eek:) > [@panache45](#): > > Their nutritional content, of course, depends on the rat’s diet. Ironic if it’s hot dogs. Just as ironic if it’s capers! ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/15 "2015-08-28T09:02:33Z")
The USDA nutritional database includes water content. For [Frankfurter, pork](http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/1785?fgcd=&manu=&lfacet=&format=&count=&max=35&offset=&sort=&qlookup=hot+dog) everything listed as content per 100 g still doesn’t add up to 100 g though. > [@](#): > > Proximates > Water g 59.85 > Protein g 12.81 > Total lipid (fat) g 23.68 > Carbohydrate, by difference g 0.28 > Fiber, total dietary g 0.1 > Sugars, total g 0.00 > > Minerals > Calcium, Ca mg 267 > Iron, Fe mg 3.70 > Magnesium, Mg mg 15 > Phosphorus, P mg 171 > Potassium, K mg 264 > Sodium, Na mg 816 > Zinc, Zn mg 2.09 > > Vitamins > Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid mg 2.0 > Thiamin mg 0.593 > Riboflavin mg 0.179 > Niacin mg 2.773 > Vitamin B-6 mg 0.322 > Folate, DFE µg 3 > Vitamin B-12 µg 0.49 > Vitamin A, RAE µg 79 > Vitamin A, IU IU 263 > > Lipids > Fatty acids, total saturated g 8.719 > Fatty acids, total monounsaturated g 10.890 > Fatty acids, total polyunsaturated g 2.233 > Cholesterol mg 66 ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/16 "2015-08-28T15:36:39Z")
Off the top of my head, it looks like “minerals” is excluding the mass of all the stuff that is typically chemically bound to phosphorus. You don’t have any free atomic phosphorus in your body, rather it’s all some kind of phosphate (whether it’s phosphate, pyrophosphate, attached to another molecule, etc.) Atomic mass of phosphorus is 30 g/mol, while phosphate is 95 g/mol. That probably accounts for another few hundred mg. Then there are all sorts of small molecules that aren’t strictly a carbohydrate in the sense of being a sugar or sugar polymer, or a protein, or a lipid. However, I don’t know how these are accounted for in a typical nutritional analysis. E.g. nucleotides consist of a nitrogenous base, which contains carbon, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, arranged in one or two rings, a sugar, and a di- or triphosphate. Whether or not it’s constituent parts are counted as “carbohydrate”, “other”, or “phosphorus” depends on the gory details of the biochemical tests used to measure each. From what I know about measuring protein concentration, there are a lot of very different assays that often give different results. Because “protein” is a huge gemisch of very chemically different things, it’s easier to measure (say) the reduction of Cu++ by peptide bonds, certain amino acid side chains, and various other molecules in a sample. Different methods can disagree by a few percent even in ideal cases, and by far more in more difficult cases. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/17 "2015-08-28T15:49:01Z")
The missing .0001g is the soul. ::cue angelic chorus:: ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-part-of-food-that-isnt-protein-carbs-or-fat/728987/18 "2015-08-28T23:29:59Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Some foods contain the so-called sugar alcohols including glycerol and xylitol, which are chemically alcohols (though not the kind that can get you drunk). They are included under the carbohydrate heading of US nutrient labels (even though they’re not chemically carbohydrates) because they’re sweet and are metabolized somewhat like carbohydrates and have a similar calorie content per gram. Somewhat. I haven’t been confined to a seat on the pot for most of a day from metabolizing pasta, bread or sugar.