ChemMatters: The Science Behind Calories and Nutrition Facts Labels

Our latest ChemMatters episode explains the science behind calories and nutrition facts labels. Find out how scientists first determined the calorie content of food in the 1800s, and how fat, protein and carbohydrate levels on nutrition facts labels are found today. The video explains that the calorie content of food was determined in the late 1800s by chemist Wilbur O. Atwater. Atwater built a four by eight foot device called a respiration calorimeter, which was big enough to allow a person to step into i