Re-examining the Energy Value of Food

It has been 125 years since Wilbur Olin Atwater, an agricultural chemist with the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, published his findings from more than 500 studies that attempted to understand the potential energy value of food (Atwater, 1887). Leveraging earlier calorimetric work by Frankland, Rubner, and Stohmann, Atwater reported the potential energy value of protein, fat, and carbohydrate (Hargrove, 2007). Since the time of Atwater, new research data have provided insights into how energy values …