what is a Kcal?
on the back of foods it says things like on the back of an orange juice 44kcal, does that mean 44 calories??

what is a Kcal?
on the back of foods it says things like on the back of an orange juice 44kcal, does that mean 44 calories?? yes, KCal means food "calories".

It's a metric term. In science, 1 scientific calorie is defined as the energy to heat 1 milliliter (1/1,000th of one liter) of water by 1 degree Celcius. As you might imagine, that's a miniscule (tiny) amount of energy, so far as people are concerned. So the term KCal came into being, an abbreviation of KiloCalorie (or "1,000" scientific calories).

As far as foods and eating are concerned, wherever you read "calorie", they really mean KCal. So, one food calorie, is enough energy to heat 1 liter (1,000 milliliters, = more than a quart) of water by one degree Celcius (one degree Celcius is somewhat more than one degree Fahrenheit).

rD

wow thats very complicated, they should really teach us this kinda thing at school!

So Kcal is basically a calorie..... thanks! :D