kalori

Kalori is a unit of energy widely used in nutrition to express the energy content of foods and beverages. In scientific contexts, the term calorie (lowercase cal) refers to the energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius at standard pressure, and equals 4.184 joules. In nutrition, however, the term calories almost always denotes the kilocalorie (kcal), the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water by 1 degree Celsius. One kilocalorie equals 1,000 small calories and 4.184 kilojoules. In many languages, including Indonesian and Malay, kalori is used to denote this nutritional energy unit.

Food energy is determined in laboratories by calorimetry or estimated from the macronutrient content of foods. On nutrition labels, energy is shown as kilocalories and often also as kilojoules.

Macronutrients provide different amounts of energy: carbohydrates and protein yield about 4 kcal per gram, fat about 9 kcal per gram, and alcohol about 7 kcal per gram.

Daily energy requirements vary with age, sex, body size, activity level, and health status. The balance between energy intake and energy expenditure governs weight change over time, while energy density and food choices influence overall diet quality.

Historically, the calorie concept arose in 19th-century thermochemistry. Nutrition adopted the kilocalorie as the practical unit, and many countries now report energy in both kilocalories and kilojoules on food labels. The term kalori remains the common term for this unit in several languages and contexts.