On Sat, 28 Sep 2002, Theola Walden Baker wrote:

> Huh?  Received this from another list.  Never heard this before.
>
> *******************************************
> "It is known that Protein is 5 calories per gram, but that the body needs
> to invest 1 cal/gm in order to use 1gm of protein for energy, thus
> protein is commonly thought of 4 cal/gm. This stems from the "diet
> paradigm" in which one wants to loose weight, thus "active calories" are
> what counts."

It's true, but the effect is magnified in this statement by
rounding.  I think protein and carbs are closer to 4.5
calories/gram.  With protein, about 10% of that is metabolic
"overhead", so the remaining amount is about 4 calories/gram.
This is called the "thermic effect" of protein.

Todd Moody
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