Kcals vs American cals?

So, I'm vacationing in Europe with my family and I got a small box of cereal to have for breakfast. In America, one of these is usually 200-250 cal, but the label says 1 box= 430 cal. What's more, everything here seems to have more calories than back in the US.

Is this because the measurements are different? Are the American packagers just less honest? I'm really confused.

same thing.

edit: same unit.  cals are kcals.  as far as the descrepancy, the serving sizes and/or ingredients are probably different.

pgeorgian is correct. 'kj' are different, but kcal and cal are the same in nutrition labels.

Even if you are getting the same cereal as you do in the US, it could easily be a larger size or different ingredients. I know that several foods (including Coke) have different recipes for different markets.

And if it's a different cereal, then all bets are off.

^^^what they said

a kilocalorie is what we know as a Calorie (yes, with a capital C).  As for why the calories might be different....is it the exact same cereal?  Also, are you sure that the box back home might show you a portion size (as in, only part of the box)???? I live in Italy and they do everything by "# of calories (fat, carbs, etc) per 100 grams". 

You could also look it up on CC and see what it says.

Original Post by kaetlynm:

^^^what they said

a kilocalorie is what we know as a Calorie (yes, with a capital C). As for why the calories might be different....is it the exact same cereal? Also, are you sure that the box back home might show you a portion size (as in, only part of the box)???? I live in Italy and they do everything by "# of calories (fat, carbs, etc) per 100 grams".

You could also look it up on CC and see what it says.

Yes, definitely check for that! I know when I go shopping and wander down the international foods aisle, I like to look at the stuff out of curiosity. If the wrapper has a translation on it (most don't lol), it'll tell you how many calories are in 100g. That may or may not be the serving size, you have to do the math yourself and make your own judgment on what's a serving.

1 Calorie = 1000 calories = 1 kilocalorie; therefore, 1 Calorie = 1 kilocalorie.

Some countries use the unit called the "Joule," (named after James Prescott Joule) - I have seen Australia use joules on their cans of Diet Coke.  They are a bit more truthful with how much energy is in a can of Diet Coke.  A fellow physics teacher has a can of Australian Diet Coke that shows that Diet Coke does not have 0 Calories, as our system rounds down.  I know it's off topic, but it's interesting stuff.

In america labels don't have to include calories from insoluble fiber. in other countries they do.

Do you really think a 200 Cal discrepancy is from insoluble fiber?  Come on. 

As others have mentioned, it's likely Cal per 100g not per serving. 

Did I say that the entire 200 extra calories came from the insoluble fiber?  Instead of just repeating what others have already said about the different serving size I opted to give her other, additional information.

Original Post by sugarshocked:

Did I say that the entire 200 extra calories came from the insoluble fiber? Instead of just repeating what others have already said about the different serving size I opted to give her other, additional information.

And it was good information.

thanks for all the helpful information guys. I looked at the label and it was calories per 100g. I hadn't known it was different in the UK, silly American that I am. :)

That's interesting about the insoluble fiber. How many calories does that usually account for?

Your body can typically get 1 or 2 Calories out of a gram of fibre.  So, less than the 4 Calories per gram of other kinds of carb - but not zero.