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kilocalorie

unit of measurement
Also known as: food calorie, large calorie

Quick Summary

The kilocalorie (kcal), often simply called a "Calorie" in everyday language, is a unit of energy. It's commonly used to measure the energy content of food. One kilocalorie is equivalent to 1,000 gram-calories, where a calorie is defined as the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius. In nutrition, a kilocalorie represents the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. For instance, a typical diet is often discussed in terms of 2,000 kilocalories. The kilocalorie is also related to the joule, another unit of energy, with 1 kilocalorie equaling 4.184 kilojoules.12

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