Processes and systems based on dietary fiber as energy

Abstract

A process for controlling body weight of a consumer obtains food energy data of candidate food servings to be ingested based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content and ingesting the food servings such that a sum of the food energy data thereof bears a predetermined relationship to predetermined food energy benchmark data of the consumer for a given period. Related processes for selecting and purchasing food, for producing food energy data and for producing a food product are provided. Related processes and systems for supplying food energy data to a requester and supplying meal plan data to a consumer are also provided.

1 . A process for controlling body weight of a consumer, comprising, for each of a plurality of candidate food servings, obtaining respective food energy data representing an energy content thereof based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; selecting food servings from the plurality of candidate food servings such that a sum of respective food energy data of the selected food servings bears a predetermined relationship to predetermined food energy benchmark data for the consumer in a given period; and ingesting the selected food servings. 
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , comprising obtaining respective food energy data for each of the candidate food servings by obtaining protein data representing its protein content, carbohydrate data representing its carbohydrate content, dietary fiber data representing its dietary fiber content and fat data representing its fat content, and forming the respective food energy data based on a sum of the protein data, the carbohydrate data, the fat data and the dietary fiber data. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1 , comprising obtaining meal plan data identifying candidate food servings to be ingested by the consumer over the given period based on the respective food energy data and the food energy benchmark data, wherein the candidate food servings are ingested by the consumer in accordance with the meal plan data. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving the protein data, the carbohydrate data, the dietary fiber data, and the fat data in a data processing system and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the respective food energy data. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 4 , wherein receiving data in the data processing system comprises receiving the protein data, the carbohydrate data, the dietary fiber data, and the fat data via a network, and further comprising communicating the respective food energy data from the data processing system via the network. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving food identification data for a respective one of the candidate food servings in a data processing system; in the data processing system, using the food identification data to access food component data representing the protein content of the respective one of the candidate food servings as well as its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content, and processing the food component data in the data processing system to produce the respective food energy data for the respective one of the candidate food servings. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein obtaining respective food energy data comprises receiving food identification data for a respective one of the candidate food servings in a data processing system; and accessing the respective food energy data for the respective one of the candidate food servings from storage of the data processing system using the food identification data. 
     
     
         8 . A process for selecting and purchasing food, comprising, using at least one of food identification data and food serving nutrient data of a food offered for sale, obtaining food energy data representing an energy content thereof based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; selecting the food offered for sale based on its food energy data; and purchasing the selected food offered for sale. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8 , wherein obtaining food energy data comprises obtaining respective food energy data of the food offered for sale based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and forming the respective food energy data based on a sum of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, the fat energy data and the dietary fiber energy data. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 8 , wherein obtaining food energy data comprises receiving protein energy data representing the protein energy content of the food offered for sale, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content in a data processing system and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 10 , wherein receiving data in the data processing system comprises receiving data representing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, the dietary fiber energy data and the fat energy data via a network, and further comprising communicating the respective food energy data from the data processing system via the network. 
     
     
         12 . A process for producing food energy data for a selected food, comprising, in a data processing system, receiving at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of a selected food; and, in the data processing system, obtaining food energy data for the selected food based on the at least one of its food identification data and food nutrient data, and an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 12 , wherein obtaining food energy data comprises obtaining respective food energy data of the selected food based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and forming the respective food energy data based on a sum of the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, the fat energy data and the dietary fiber energy data. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 12 , comprising receiving data for the selected food in the data processing system comprising protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the selected food. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 12 , comprising receiving the food identification data in the data processing system, using the food identification data to access protein energy data representing protein energy content of the selected food, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and processing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data, the dietary fiber energy data and the fat energy data in the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the selected food. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 12 , comprising receiving the food identification data in the data processing system and using the food identification data to access the food energy data for the selected food. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 12 , comprising storing the food energy data in storage. 
     
     
         18 . The process of  claim 17 , comprising storing the food energy data in a database of existing food energy data to update it. 
     
     
         19 . A process for providing data to a data requester, comprising, receiving request data in a data processing system representing a request for food energy data for a predetermined food serving; using a processor of the data processing system, obtaining respective food energy data representing an energy content thereof based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; and at least one of (a) communicating the food energy data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the food energy data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system. 
     
     
         20 . The process of  claim 19 , comprising obtaining the food energy data for the predetermined food serving based on protein energy data representing its protein energy content, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and summing the protein energy data, the carbohydrate energy data and the fat energy data. 
     
     
         21 . The process of  claim 19 , comprising receiving request data in the data processing system comprising protein energy data representing a protein energy content of the predetermined food serving, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and processing the received data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the predetermined food serving. 
     
     
         22 . The process of  claim 19 , comprising receiving request data in the data processing system comprising food identification data for the predetermined food serving, using the food identification data to access protein energy data representing a protein energy content of the predetermined food serving, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its dietary fiber energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content, and processing the accessed data using the data processing system to produce the food energy data for the predetermined food serving. 
     
     
         23 . The process of  claim 19 , comprising receiving request data in the data processing system comprising food identification data for the predetermined food serving, and using the food identification data to access the food energy data for the predetermined food serving. 
     
     
         24 . A system for providing data to a data requester comprises an input operative to receive request data representing a request for food energy data for a predetermined food serving; a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data and configured to obtain food energy data in response thereto representing an energy content thereof based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; and at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the food energy data therefrom and to communicate the food energy data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the food energy data and operative to present the food energy data to the data requester. 
     
     
         25 . The system of  claim 24 , wherein the request data represents an energy contribution of each of a protein content of the predetermined food serving, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content and the processor is operative to process the request data to obtain the food energy data. 
     
     
         26 . The system of  claim 24 , further comprising storage coupled with the processor, wherein the request data comprises identification data identifying the predetermined food serving and the processor is configured to access data from the storage representing a protein content of the predetermined food serving, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content based on the identification data and to process the accessed data to obtain the food energy data. 
     
     
         27 . The system of  claim 24 , comprising storage coupled with the processor, wherein the request data comprises identification data identifying the predetermined food serving and the processor is operative to access the food energy data from the storage based on the identification data. 
     
     
         28 . A process for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, receiving request data in a data processing system representing a request for a meal plan from a consumer; in response to the request, obtaining food energy data in the data processing system for each of a plurality of predetermined food servings based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; obtaining meal plan data representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on the food energy data; and at least one of (a) communicating the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the data requester, and (b) presenting the meal plan data to the data requester via a presentation device of the data processing system. 
     
     
         29 . The process of  claim 28 , wherein obtaining food energy data comprises, for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings, in the data processing system processing protein energy data representing a protein energy content of a respective one of the predetermined food servings, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content to produce the food energy data. 
     
     
         30 . The process of  claim 28 , wherein obtaining food energy data comprises, for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings, accessing data from storage representing the food energy data thereof. 
     
     
         31 . A system for providing meal plan data to a consumer, comprising, an input operative to receive request data representing a request for a meal plan from the consumer; a processor coupled with the input to receive the request data and configured to obtain food energy data for each of a plurality of predetermined food servings based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content, and to obtain meal plan data representing a plurality of predetermined food servings to be consumed by the consumer during a predetermined period based on the food energy data; and at least one of (a) communications coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data therefrom and to communicate the meal plan data to a device for presentation to the consumer, and (b) a presentation device coupled with the processor to receive the meal plan data and operative to present the meal plan data to the consumer. 
     
     
         32 . The system of  claim 31 , wherein the processor is operative to obtain food energy data for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings by processing protein energy data representing a protein energy content of a respective one of the predetermined food servings, carbohydrate energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content, dietary fiber energy data representing its carbohydrate energy content and fat energy data representing its fat energy content to produce the food energy data 
     
     
         33 . The system of  claim 31 , comprising storage coupled with the processor, and wherein the processor is operative to obtain food energy data for each of the plurality of predetermined food servings by accessing the food energy data thereof from the storage. 
     
     
         34 . A process for producing a food product having food energy data associated therewith, comprising, obtaining a food product, supplying at least one of food identification data and food nutrient data of the food product; obtaining food energy data for the food product based on an energy contribution of each of its protein content, its carbohydrate content, its dietary fiber content and its fat content; and associating the food energy data with the food product. 
     
     
         35 . The process of  claim 34 , wherein obtaining the food product comprises producing the food product. 
     
     
         36 . The process of  claim 34 , wherein the food energy data is associated with the food product by including the food energy data on a substrate associated with the food product. 
     
     
         37 . The process of  claim 36 , wherein the substrate comprises a label accompanying the food product. 
     
     
         38 . The process of  claim 36 , wherein the substrate comprises packaging of the food product.