Content
How calories were invented: A brief history
17.09.2023 00:30
Updated: 13.05.2024 21:23
Nowadays, most people use calories as a convenient method to measure how much energy you can get from food.
The concept isn't actually exactly new - people have been using them for a few centuries now.
Let's find out more about where this theory comes from and why we still use it.
They were invented, not discovered
Calories, which are units used to measure the energy in food, were not really "discovered" like a hidden treasure.
Instead, the concept of calories evolved over time as scientists studied how our bodies get energy from food.
A bit of history
In the late 18th century, a French scientist named Antoine Lavoisier started exploring the idea of how our bodies use food for energy.
He's often credited with laying the foundation for understanding calories, although he didn't use that exact term.
The word "calorie" itself came into use in the mid-19th century.
Scientists like Nicolas Clément and Julius Mayer made significant contributions to our understanding of how heat and energy are related to food.
They realized that the energy in food could be measured in calories.
Later on, in the early 20th century, scientists like Wilbur Atwater developed more precise methods to measure calories in food.
They found that different nutrients, like carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, provide different amounts of energy when our bodies digest them.
The concept isn't new
So, the concept of calories and how they relate to food and energy has a long history of discovery and research, with contributions from many scientists over the years.
It's an essential concept for understanding nutrition and how our bodies function.
