Does the history of food energy units suggest a solution to "Calorie confusion"?

The Calorie (kcal) of present U.S. food labels is similar to the original French definition of 1825. The original published source (now available on the internet) defined the Calorie as the quantity of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 kg of water from 0 to 1°C. The Calorie originated in studies concerning fuel efficiency for the steam engine and had entered dictionaries by 1840. It was the only energy unit in English dictionaries available to W.O. Atwater in 1887 for his popular articles on food and tables of food composition. Therefore, the Calorie became the preferred unit of potential energy in nutrition science and dietetics, but was displaced when the joule, g-calorie and kcal were introduced. This article will explain the context in which Nicolas Clément-Desormes defined the original Calorie and the depth of his collaboration with Sadi Carnot. It will review the history of other energy units and show how the original Calorie was usurped during the period of international standardization. As a result, no form of the Calorie is recognized as an SI unit. It is untenable to continue to use the same word for different thermal units (g-calorie and kg-calorie) and to use different words for the same unit (Calorie and kcal). The only valid use of the Calorie is in common speech and public nutrition education. To avoid ongoing confusion, scientists should complete the transition to the joule and cease using kcal in any context

The dynamics of human body weight change

An imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure will lead to a change in body weight (mass) and body composition (fat and lean masses). A quantitative understanding of the processes involved, which currently remains lacking, will be useful in determining the etiology and treatment of obesity and other conditions resulting from prolonged energy imbalance. Here, we show that the long-term dynamics of human weight change can be captured by a mathematical model of the macronutrient flux balances and all previous models are special cases of this model. We show that the generic dynamical behavior of body composition for a clamped diet can be divided into two classes. In the first class, the body composition and mass are determined uniquely. In the second class, the body composition can exist at an infinite number of possible states. Surprisingly, perturbations of dietary energy intake or energy expenditure can give identical responses in both model classes and existing data are insufficient to distinguish between these two possibilities. However, this distinction is important for the efficacy of clinical interventions that alter body composition and mass

A new approach for flow-through respirometry measurements in humans

Indirect whole room calorimetry is commonly used in studies of human metabolism. These calorimeters can be configured as either push or pull systems. A major obstacle to accurately calculating gas exchange rates in a pull system is that the excurrent flow rate is increased above the incurrent flow rate, because the organism produces water vapor, which also dilutes the concentrations of respiratory gasses in the excurrent sample. A common approach to this problem is to dry the excurrent gasses prior to measurement, but if drying is incomplete, large errors in the calculated oxygen consumption will result. The other major potential source of error is fluctuations in the concentration of O2 and CO2 in the incurrent airstream. We describe a novel approach to measuring gas exchange using a pull-type whole room indirect calorimeter. Relative humidity and temperature of the incurrent and excurrent airstreams are measured continuously using high-precision, relative humidity and temperature sensors, permitting accurate measurement of water vapor pressure. The excurrent flow rates are then adjusted to eliminate the flow contribution from water vapor, and respiratory gas concentrations are adjusted to eliminate the effect of water vapor dilution. In addition, a novel switching approach is used that permits constant, uninterrupted measurement of the excurrent airstream while allowing frequent measurements of the incurrent airstream. To demonstrate the accuracy of this approach, we present the results of validation trials compared with our existing system and metabolic carts, as well as the results of standard propane combustion tests