Download free diet software, documents, etc. Home page. Peruse reprints of several Diet Software articles. Visit 70+ diet, nutrition, and/or fitness software websites. Learn what to look for in diet software. 101 questions to ask before you buy diet software. Jump to the Diet Software home page.
Compensated 4-4-9 Method
Glossary of food and culinary terms. Directory of Food Manufacturers. Learn the value of some specific diet software features. Learn about the USDA Standard Reference data. Learn about the Canadian Nutrient Files
"When everything goes against you, til it seems as if you couldn't hold on a minute longer, never give up then, for that's just the place and time that the tide'll turn." - Harriet Beecher Stowe

The "Compensated 4-4-9" Method of Calculating Calorie Ratios - For non-USDA brand name and restaurant foods, CyberSoft uses its proprietary "compensated 4-4-9" method to calculate "% calories from" and the "calories from" values for Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat. These values are used to derive the "PCF Ratio" (the ratio of Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat). CyberSoft's nutrition and fitness software displays the PCF Ratio in all recipes, nutrient intakes, and Meal Plans.

Several factors make the straight 4-4-9 method less than ideal when applied to actual published data. For one thing, many food makers consider any nutrient containing fewer than 5 calories to be "nutritionally insignificant." For this reason, many food makers "round off" their published values for protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Sometimes they publish a value of "<1.0 gram" for fat, which should provide a conservative figure, but it could also mean that the fat content is anywhere from 0.99 grams down to 0.0 grams. When a food item contains only a few calories, the "insignificant" rounding of fat values can have very significant and misleading consequences.

One consequence of this practice of rounding nutrient values is that when the caloric values for protein, carbohydrates, and fat are added up, they very rarely match the calorie values published by the food manufacturer or restaurant. This means that to simply multiply fat grams by 9 and calculate the resulting value as a percentage of the total calorie value will often result in a very misleading value for % Calories from Protein, Carbohydrates, or Fat.

To more accurately represent "% Calories from" values, CyberSoft developed a simple method for calculating percentage contents of all sources of calories. It is called the "compensated 4-4-9 method." Here's how it works:

1) Calculate the total calories from the calorie sources by multiplying protein grams by 4, carbohydrate grams by 4, and fat grams by 9. Sum these derived values to produce a "total derived calories" value.

2) Assume that the food maker's published total calorie value is correct. Compare the "total derived calorie" value to the food maker's published total calorie value. If the derived value is lower or higher than 100% of the published value, adjust all the non-zero nutrient values in exactly the same ratio to produce a 100% correlation with total calories. This "unrounding process" results in "% calories from" values for Protein, Carbohydrates, and Fat that add up to the published total calories and that also add up to 100%.

This method is one way to assure the highest possible degree of accuracy from the published nutrient data currently available from food makers today.

Copyright © 1986 to 2006 by CyberSoft, Inc., an Arizona corporation. All Rights Reserved.
How many calories do YOU burn in performing various activites? What is your ''ideal'' weight or body fat content? How calorie ratios are calculated. Food Claim Terminology. Substitutions for commonly eaten foods. Conversions for common serving sizes. Learn about the Calorie Restriction Society.