the calorie is a very bad metric for human energy consumption and nutrition in general. First, it completely ignores other nutrients like minerals, vitamins, pr

the calorie is a very bad metric for human energy consumption and nutrition in general. First, it completely ignores other nutrients like minerals, vitamins, prebiotic fibers, etc. Second, to measure the caloric value of something, you'll need to burn it and calculate the amount of heat generated. This is not how the human body digests food. Many types of substances can't be digested (like fibers) but generate a substantial amount of heat. Bits and pieces of nuts and seeds can go undigested through to a large extent, depends on the size of the pieces that were swallowed, and so the body absorbs only parts of the fats, carbs and proteins in those types of foods (although nuts are very calorie dense) We really need a new measure of energy that's suited for nutrition... The calorie is worthless.