calorie burning question

[Adrienne]

Hi Jeff

First I want to say that I have learned so much since this forum began. Thanks to everyone for asking such good questions and to you Jeff for posting such detailed replies.

I read the following off of the PCRM website about vegetarian diets for weight control:

The body treats carbohydrates differently than fat calories. The difference comes with how the body stores the energy of different food types. It is very inefficient for the body to store the energy of carbohydrates as body fat—it burns 23 percent of the calories of the carbohydrate—but fat is converted easily into body fat. Only 3 percent of the calories in fat are burned in the process of conversion and storage.4 It is the type of food, not so much the quantity, that affects body fat the most.5

http://www.pcrm.org/health/prevmed/weight_control.html

My question is do you know what percentage of calories from protein are burned during the storage process? I was just curious about this.

Thanks

[JeffN]

Hi Adrienne

First I want to say that I have learned so much since this forum began. Thanks to everyone for asking such good questions and to you Jeff for posting such detailed replies.

Thanks.

My question is do you know what percentage of calories from protein are burned during the storage process? I was just curious about this. Thanks

The estimate for protein is about the same as for carb.

However, the main issue with obesity and weight problems is not really the "conversion energy" but the overconsumption of calories, the abundance of inexpensive calorie dense foods in our society, and our low activity levels.

Many people do lose weight and keep the weight off and remain thin on high protein animal based diets. While it may not be the healthiest way to accomplish this, or to go through life, it can be done.

Trying to focus on the macronutrients and the differences in their thermic effect (the cost of digestion) and also their energy cost of storage, is really not the issue. The quote you are referring to is not actually correct. Obese people do consume more calories (not less) and this has been documented time and time again. The main problem is, they are more likely to under-report what they eat, and over report their amount of activity.

We should focus our diet on naturally ocurring carbohydrates, like fruits, veggies, starchy veggies, legumes, and intact whole grains, because they are they most nutrient dense foods and the lowest in calorie density, and not because of some minor difference in the energy cost of digestion or storage.

In Health
Jeff Novick, MS, RD

[Jaggu]

Jeff,

Bingo!!! What a precise and concise answers to a loaded questions we throw at you