• @bboplifa@lemmy.worldOP
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    11 year ago

    I think it is much more likely that the way a human being metabolizes food is different then what happens in bomb calorimeter and trying to draw conclusions based on said device is not very helpful to understanding human physiology, but then again i am just some schmuck on the interwebs and i dont even play a scientist on tv

    • @DudeBro@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I am a schmuck on the interwebs who went to school for microbiology and I can say for certain that the human body does not violate the 1st law of thermodynamics. Calorie deficit = your body must free up stored energy (in fat) to have enough energy to continue breathing = weight loss. Unless your body is able to create sustainable free energy out of a vacuum or unless you have a horrible genetic disorder that breaks down your bones for energy or unless you are dead

    • JWBananas
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      21 year ago

      Sure, but wouldn’t the calorimeter’s reading still be the theoretical maximum since it’s based on thermodynamics? In other words, an inefficient metabolism may see a net gain of fewer calories, but it shouldn’t ever see greater.

    • @Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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      11 year ago

      I’ve not used a calorimeter, but my understanding is that is just measures heat energy from burning things. Things like sucralose and aspertame likely WOULD read as caloric in that kind of measurement, because they contain chemical energy. The reason those sweeteners read as 0 in nutrition labels is because of how we metabolize food. Or in this case, how we don’t: we can’t digest sucralose and similar sweeteners. It goes in, your tongue says “yay!” and you poop it out.

      Also a schmuck on interweb; but healthcare is my area of expertise, so I’ve got a handful of college level human anatomy & physiology, nutrition, and microbiology courses to draw from here. I was also a fatass who wanted to join the military back in the day, which required losing a lot of weight - decided to approach it as scientifically as possible (there’s a LOT of fad misinformation surrounding weightloss), and I can’t complain about the results.

      • JWBananas
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        01 year ago

        They read as zero due to rounding. In packet form they’re almost always cut with dextrose/maltodextrin (which is definitely not zero-calorie).