Nutrition and production related energies and exergies of foods

Nutritional energy (En) and nutritional exergy (Exn) are the inherent thermodynamic properties of foods; specific cumulative energy (CEnC) and exergy (CExC) utilization are thermodynamic properties associated with their production. Cumulative specific carbon dioxide emission (CCO2E) is an environmental parameter used in parallel with the other thermodynamic parameters to describe the specific carbon dioxide emission during production. Interrelation of Exn and En is assessed by referring to 87 foods. Values of (CEnC), (CExC) and (CCO2E) are presented for 146 foods. The data presented here are expected to make it easier to perform energy and exergy balances around people and animals while assessing their diets, and also while assessing food production systems. This paper is expected to serve as a comprehensive source of data in thermodynamic analyses pertinent to food processing and nutrition.