How many calories are in a mass of body fat?

The article was professionally consulted by Specialist Doctor II Ho Viet Le Diem - General Internal Medicine - Department of Examination & Internal Medicine - Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.

Calories are the energy in food. Calories can come from carbs, fat, and protein. The body uses calories to fuel all activities or stores most of it as body fat.

Pure fat has a very high energy content or about 9 calories per gram. This amounts to about 4,100 calories per pound of pure fat.
However, body fat is not just pure fat. Body fat is composed of fat cells, which contain some fluid and protein in addition to fat. Therefore, the calorie content of body fat will be slightly less than the calorie content of pure fat.
Body fat or adipose tissue contains fat cells. Fat cells contain lipids, including cholesterol and triglycerides.
Fat tissue stores energy for the body to use and protect organs. In addition, fatty tissue also releases hormones that control many functions in the body, such as insulin sensitivity and appetite.
People with a lot of body fat may experience something called leptin resistance , in which the body is less sensitive to the hormone leptin . This increases hunger and increases food intake, making it harder to maintain weight.
There are two types of adipose tissue: white and brown. Brown adipose tissue has more metabolic activity. It burns more calories and helps with weight control, insulin sensitivity and overall health to a greater extent than white adipose tissue. If people have excess body fat, it is usually because their white adipose tissue is abundant.
Having too much body fat can cause obesity and lead to many health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease. Having too little body fat can also be harmful and lead to health problems like malnutrition and fertility problems.

In 1958, a scientist named Max Wishnofsky concluded that the calorie equivalent of one pound of body weight is 3,500 calories. This result he based on the scientific evidence available at the time. Decades later, his results have been cited thousands of times in the media and science.
Basically, it's become common knowledge that one pound of body fat contains 3,500 calories. But is it really true?
These days scientists have used generally accepted values ​​for this calculation. In general, we can assume that:
One pound equals 454 grams. Pure fat contains 8.7-9.5 calories per gram. Body adipose tissue is 87% fat. Using these values, we can conclude that one pound of body fat actually contains between 3,436 and 3,752 calories. It should be noted, however, that these calculations are based on older research. Some studies suggest that body adipose tissue contains only 72% fat, and that different types of body fat can also contain different amounts of fat.

Currently, there are several ways to calculate body fat such as tape measure, Skin fold instrument, Body fat scale, Hydrostatic weighing, Non-variable measurement. Air displacement plethysmography and MRI or CT. However, each method has different advantages and disadvantages, so you need to see experts trained in this field and the facility needs modern equipment to get accurate results. What is the percentage of body fat?
After calculating body fat, you can compare your results with the scale of the American Council on Exercise given as follows:

It should be noted, however, that not all techniques for measuring fat percentage give equal results. Some methods have a high error rate.
In skin fold measurements, it should be performed by a trained professional using calipers to measure specific locations on the body. Once calculated, the results are compared with a graph of fat percentage estimates. These skin fold measuring devices can also be purchased and used at home. However, the accuracy of this method varies greatly based on the user's usage. The error rate can be up to plus or minus 8%.
Therefore, to know exactly the amount of fat in the body and whether that fat affects or causes diseases in the body, you need to go to reputable medical facilities with modern equipment to just check the amount of fat in the body and check the pathology caused by too much fat. From this facility, Vinmec International General Hospital has deployed many general health checkup packages with diverse examination contents and suitable for each subject and age. The examination content in the general health examination packages at Vinmec hospital is based on science and is highly applicable to accurately and appropriately approach each customer. The results of the general examination will give an overall picture of the customer's health and from there give specific health advice such as nutrition, exercise, living and care regimens. treatment if the client has a medical condition.
Doctor Ho Viet Le Diem has more than 10 years working in the Department of Resuscitation - Cardiac Surgery at Cho Ruong Hospital with the position of cardiologist and Open Heart Resuscitation. And has more than 03 years as a General Internal Medicine doctor at Family Medical Practice in Ho Chi Minh City. Currently, Dr. Diem is working at the Internal Medicine Department - Vinmec Central Park International General Hospital.