Questions tagged [nutrient-composition]

Questions regarding facts about macro-nutrients within foods. Do not use for "what is healthy" or similar questions, which are off-topic.

General nutrition questions are off-topic on the site. We make an exception for certain questions about the nutritional makeup of foods, provided they are regarding facts, and culinary in nature.

The content of foods, and how they are affected by cooking or standard culinary treatments is an acceptable area for questions.

Examples of on-topic questions include:

  • How does ripeness of a fruit affect the amount of sugar it has?
  • Which types of food contain oligosaccharides?
  • How does cooking beans affect the amount of Vitamin K they contain?

Types of questions that are not permitted include anything making health interpretations or requiring medical knowledge to answer, including:

  • Questions regarding whether a given food is appropriate for a specific diet or medical condition
  • Whether a given food is healthy or not, or healthy in comparison to another food
  • What kind of diet is recommended for any reason

Examples of off-topic questions include:

  • Which type of sweetener is healthiest?
  • Should I drink soy milk or skim milk?
  • What is best for you, canned or frozen peas?
  • Which is healthier, raw or cooked tomatoes?
  • Is iron more bio-available in kale after it is cooked?

Note that nutritional questions are a borderline area. You may wish to come to chat or meta to discuss further, or for help asking a focused and effective question.

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What constitutes the majority of meat?

Looking at 100g chicken breast for example, I see that ~30g is protein and ~4 is fat. What is the rest of the 100g piece made of? Is that all connective tissues? Fiber? Something else?
shadesofdarkred
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Why should (or shouldn't) we wash rice before cooking?

There are pretty confusing articles on this topic on the internet. Some suggest that we should wash them to remove starch, talc, etc. Some suggest that we should not wash them because they are fortified with minerals. This also varies according to…
Cool_Coder
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How can 100% peanut butter have more protein than 100% peanuts

I am looking at: 100% peanut butter (no added salt, sugar, oils or anything else) 100% roasted peanuts (no added salt, sugar, oils or anything else) When looking thought different sources, I can always notice the following: Peanut butter has more…
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How Can Cooked Meat Still Have Protein Value?

I've been taught 2 things that seem to contradict each other: Cooked meat has plenty of protein Heating proteins denatures them and damages/changes them If this is the case, then cooked meat must have very little usable protein, which is clearly…
Tom J Nowell
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Does microwaving destroy nutrients in food?

After answering this article, I did some research on microwaving killing vitamins and nutrients in food. I very quickly learned that this is a touchy subject, even among nutritionists, and nobody (at least, nobody I saw) seems to have a "this is the…
stephennmcdonald
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Are there any calories in roasted coffee beans? Why is black coffee 0 kcal?

Are there any calories in roasted coffee beans? And why do they seem to 'disappear' when turned into black coffee? According to some websites, there are (I've seen values between 300 and 400 kcal per 100 g). At the same time, when I check nutrition…
Nikolay Suvandzhiev
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How to calculate the calorie content of cooked food?

I like to cook from scratch, and I'm currently trying to loose a few pounds. I know that cooked food is generally more calorific than raw food, so if I add up the calories of the ingredients I know it won't give an accurate result. So my questions…
Peter Coulton
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Why put a stone in the soup?

I was surprised by the added stone in the soup of this question: "Also, for irony, a large (cleaned) stone is always left in the pot" What would be the reason for this? For the minerals in the stone? As far as I know, minerals do not infuse water…
BaffledCook
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How does boiling remove vitamin C from food?

It's generally known that boiling vegetables removes a large fraction of vitamin C, but in what way? Does the high temperature destroy it? Is it merely absorbed by the boiling water?
Physiks lover
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What does the ash content of broken wheat really mean?

I purchased some broken durum wheat (also called lapsi or daliya in India) to make upma and was shocked to find that it contained ash. It seemed silly that someone would deliberately mix ash into broken wheat, and this site says it's not mixed in…
Nav
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Calories in toast vs bread

Does toasting bread change the amount of calories in the bread? i.e Does a slice of toast have more/less calories that a slice of bread? I know that some moisture is lost in the toasting process but does the browning of the bread change its…
Catch22
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If Nutrition Facts states 0% Cholesterol does that imply the food is vegan?

On the side of a package if it states "Cholesterol 0%" in the Nutrition Facts does that mean the food is vegan?
Pete Alvin
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How do the nutritional values of bananas change as they ripen?

Unripe bananas are hard with thick skins and an unmistakeable raw flavour. As they ripen they shrink slightly, the skins become thinner, and the fruit becomes softer and sweeter; the raw flavour goes away. How does the nutritional composition of…
Daron
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Do quality adjectives have a standard?

So some cheese products I buy have nutritional information on the outside that say things like "Good source of Calcium", or "Excellent source of Calcium", or "Great source of Calcium". Are these just buzzwords, or is there a standard for these words…
yuritsuki
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Why is there such disparity between the calories in a banana and the calories in this pack of dried banana?

If I Google calories in banana I get the result of 89 per 100g. However, this pack of chewy banana says 320 per 100g. Why the difference? The ingredients are Dried Banana, Rice Flour, Preservative (Sulphur Dioxide) Do rice flour (which I…
DaveDev
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