Why Most Food Labels Are Wrong About Calories

Food labels seem to provide all the information a thoughtful consumer needs, so counting calories should be simple.
Why Most Food Labels Are Wrong About Calories
Food labels seem so specific, but they’re not telling the whole story. *Shutterstock
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Food labels seem to provide all the information a thoughtful consumer needs, so counting calories should be simple. But things get tricky because food labels tell only half the story.

A calorie is a measure of usable energy. Food labels say how many calories a food contains. But what they don’t say is that how many calories you actually get out of your food depends on how highly processed it is.

Processed Food Makes You Fatter

Food-processing includes cooking, blending and mashing, or using refined instead of unrefined flour. It can be done by the food industry before you buy, or in your home when you prepare a meal. Its effects can be big. If you eat your food raw, you will tend to lose weight. If you eat the same food cooked, you will tend to gain weight. Same calories, different outcome.

For our ancestors, it could have meant the difference between life and death. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, when early humans learned to cook they were able to access more energy in whatever they ate. The extra energy allowed them to develop big brains, have babies faster and travel more efficiently. Without cooking, we would not be human.

Raw versus cooked – they look different and that's not all. (Waifer X, CC BY)
Raw versus cooked – they look different and that's not all. Waifer X, CC BY
Richard Wrangham
Richard Wrangham
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