Imagine you鈥檙e a nutrition expert with an advanced degree and years of research experience. You understand the chemical processes within our bodies and the connection between nutrition and population health. Your job is to communicate what you know with millions of people who don鈥檛 understand these things at all.
It鈥檚听a huge challenge听to turn听complex and imperfect nutrition science into simple guidelines. Sometimes it works. For example,听thousands of studies linking fruit and vegetable consumption to lowered risk of various diseases have been synthesized into a widely accepted recommendation to eat five servings of them a day. But in other cases, the details get oversimplified in听ways that are听misleading and ineffective. Case in point: the听recommendation to limit empty calories.
While some calories do pack听less of a nutritional punch than others, the idea of an empty听or useless calorie is an unproductive way to think about food. In fact, some experts believe it might actually do more harm than good.听If you鈥檙e worried about the so-called empty calories in your diet, or you鈥檙e confused about what they actually do, here鈥檚 what you need to know.
All Calories Are Nutritious
In 2011, the U.S.听Department of Agriculture听launched , a user-focused online nutrition guide based on the . 听described empty calories as calories from solid fats (a.k.a.听saturated fats) and added sugars, and advised people to keep these empty calories to a minimum. It gave an oddly specific list of 鈥渇oods and beverages that provide the most empty calories,鈥 including cakes, cookies, pastries, doughnuts, sodas, energy drinks, sports drinks, fruit drinks, cheese, pizza, ice cream, sausages, hot dogs, bacon, and ribs. The reasoning?听These foods contain high amounts of saturated fat and sugar, which 鈥渁dd calories to the food but few or no nutrients,鈥 MyPlate explained. The entry has since been removed,听perhaps because many nutrition experts , but the empty-calorie concept is still听 in .
The main problem with the term empty calories听is that it鈥檚 an oxymoron. No calorie is devoid of nutrients, because calories are nutrients. Specifically, all foods are made up of some combination of the听three macronutrients: protein, carbs, and fat. , a dietitian and nutrition professor at Messiah University, clarifies that although foods high in so-called empty calories contain few or no micronutrients鈥攖he vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to function properly鈥攖hey鈥檙e still made up of some combination of protein, carbs, and fat. It鈥檚 important to make that distinction, because even foods without vitamins and minerals 鈥渁re providing the body with energy it needs to function,鈥 Porto says. In some cases,听these calories are actually the best energy choice.
Carbs Are Fuel
All three macronutrients contain calories, which means all three also provide energy. But听as anyone who鈥檚 ever trained for a race or participated in sports likely already knows, carbs (which break down to glucose) are the body鈥檚 preferred and most efficient source of energy. This is why marathon runners use glucose gels midrun, and why professional athletes drink Gatorade during games.
MyPlate lists sports drinks and added sugar听as empty calories because they lack other important nutrients, but that鈥檚 exactly what makes them such great fuel. , a registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition and disordered eating, previously explained to 国产吃瓜黑料 that the lack of other nutrients in these sugary substances means they鈥檙e absorbed more quickly into the bloodstream and thus better equipped to provide quick energy. Your digestive system breaks them down with little effort, unlike high-fiber carbohydrates that your gut must work harder to process. Calling them empty calories isn鈥檛 accurate; if you鈥檙e in need of a pre- or mid-workout boost, they鈥檙e incredibly valuable.
All Food Serves a Purpose
The idea of empty calories听also perpetuates the misconception that protein and fat from less nutritious听foods serve no purpose. That鈥檚 just not true鈥攕ausages and ribs provide significant amounts of protein, which is essential for building and repairing muscle and other healthy tissues. The protein in these foods isn鈥檛 any less equipped to do that than the protein from a skinless chicken breast or whey protein powder. (And听it actually does it听more efficiently than many plant-based protein sources, which don鈥檛 contain all nine essential amino acids.) Likewise, fat from cheese and ice cream plays a role in hormone production and cell growth,听and it helps protect your organs (even though it鈥檚 mostly saturated). Just because these foods deliver fewer nutrients than more nutritious options doesn鈥檛 mean they do nothing for you at all.
It鈥檚 Complicated
The idea of an empty calorie听isn鈥檛 totally bogus. Consuming only soda, doughnuts, and hot dogs could lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies听and would greatly increase your risk of poor health. The evidence clearly shows that a diet rich in nutrient-dense foods鈥攆ruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, legumes, and lean proteins鈥攃an improve your health.
What Porto and many take issue with is how reductive thinking around听empty calories is. It鈥檚 a blanket term for a wide range of very different foods, which makes it confusing. For example, a soda gets all of its calories from added sugar, so it gives you quick energy but nothing else. But a pizza, which is听also designated as a source of empty calories, delivers a combination of carbs, fat, and protein, plus several important vitamins and minerals (albeit in low amounts). Soda and pizza听act very differently in your body, so grouping them together doesn鈥檛 make sense.
Porto points out another flaw in the way empty calories are presented: sugar-only processed foods,听like soda and candy, are demonized as empty calories, but sugar-only natural听foods,听like honey and maple syrup,听aren鈥檛 called out in the same way. She attributes this to the omnipresent belief that natural foods are inherently 鈥済ood鈥 and processed ones are inherently 鈥渂ad,鈥 which isn鈥檛 true. Whole foods are typically more nutrient dense than processed ones, but that鈥檚 not always the case. Honey lacks micronutrients and breaks down in your body just like soda does, natural or not.
Vague Advice Is Bad Advice
If your goal is to eat a more nutritious diet, the recommendation to avoid so-called empty calories isn鈥檛 very helpful. A better recommendation would be to eat more nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, lean protein sources, and healthy fats, and eat less added sugar and saturated fat. The best way to go about it, though, is to understand that different foods affect our bodies in different ways. High-sugar foods might lack vitamins and minerals, but they鈥檙e great for quick energy. Saturated fat can be harmful if you eat too much (the听听recommends limiting saturated fat to less than 10听percent of your total caloric听intake, or about 22 grams per day for someone who eats around 2,000 calories), but it isn鈥檛 something you need to avoid completely. Processed meats are typically high in saturated fat, but they still provide protein that鈥檚 essential to muscle maintenance and repair.
Simply put, the idea of empty calories is too simplistic to be meaningful. Experts came up with the term as a way to encourage people to eat more healthfully.听But in reality, all it does is designate certain foods as 鈥渂ad鈥 without explaining why or exploring the nuances of how various foods impact our bodies.