Empty calories are calories that provide energy but virtually no nutritional value, no vitamins, minerals, fiber, or protein. They come primarily from two sources: added sugars and solid fats. The term doesn’t mean the calories don’t “count.” Your body absorbs every one of them. It means those calories arrive without the nutrients your body needs to function well, so they take up room in your diet without pulling their weight.
What Makes a Calorie “Empty”
Every food gives your body energy measured in calories. But most foods also deliver something else: calcium, iron, vitamin C, fiber, protein, or other nutrients that keep your bones strong, your immune system working, and your cells repairing themselves. When a food is heavy on calories but light on those extras, its calories are considered empty.
The U.S. Dietary Guidelines define empty calories specifically as the sum of calories from solid fats and added sugars. Solid fats are fats that stay solid at room temperature, like butter, shortening, and the fat marbled through processed meats. Added sugars are any sweeteners put into food during processing or preparation, including table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, honey, and concentrated fruit juice used as a sweetener. Alcohol is another major source. At 7 calories per gram (nearly as calorie-dense as pure fat), alcohol delivers energy with essentially zero vitamins or minerals.
Where Empty Calories Show Up
The standard American diet tends to be energy-rich but nutrient-poor. According to CDC data from 2021 to 2023, the average American gets 55% of their total daily calories from ultra-processed foods, the category most likely to be packed with added sugars and solid fats. Children and teens consume even more: kids ages 6 to 11 get nearly 65% of their calories from these products.
The most common everyday sources include:
- Sugary drinks: soda, energy drinks, sweetened teas, and fruit-flavored beverages
- Baked goods: cakes, cookies, pastries, and doughnuts
- Candy and sweetened cereals
- Processed meats: sausages, hot dogs, and bacon (high in solid fat)
- Fried foods: french fries, fried chicken, and chips
- Alcoholic beverages: beer, cocktails, and sweetened mixed drinks
Some of these foods aren’t obvious. A flavored yogurt can contain several teaspoons of added sugar. A granola bar marketed as healthy may get most of its calories from sugar and palm oil. Even condiments like ketchup, barbecue sauce, and salad dressings can add up quickly when used regularly.
Why They Matter for Your Health
The core problem with empty calories is displacement. Your body can only use so many calories in a day before the excess gets stored as fat. If a large share of those calories comes from added sugars and solid fats, there’s less room left for foods that deliver the nutrients you actually need. The Dietary Guidelines put it plainly: diets high in calories from added sugars make it difficult to meet daily recommended levels of important nutrients while staying within calorie limits.
There’s also the overeating factor. Ultra-processed foods high in empty calories tend to be engineered for maximum palatability. Research suggests they may disrupt the gut-brain signaling pathways that tell you when you’re full, making it easier to consume more than you intended. A 200-calorie serving of lentils, loaded with fiber and protein, keeps you satisfied far longer than a 200-calorie candy bar that spikes your blood sugar and leaves you hungry again within the hour.
Current guidelines recommend keeping added sugars below 10% of your daily calories and saturated fat below 10% as well. For someone eating 2,000 calories a day, that means no more than 200 calories from added sugars (about 12 teaspoons) and no more than 200 calories from saturated fat. A single 20-ounce bottle of soda can contain 16 teaspoons of sugar, blowing past that limit on its own.
How to Spot Them on a Label
The FDA now requires “Added Sugars” to be listed as its own line on the Nutrition Facts label, directly beneath Total Sugars. This is the number to watch. Total sugars includes naturally occurring sugars (like the lactose in milk or fructose in whole fruit), which come packaged with other nutrients. Added sugars are the empty-calorie portion.
The % Daily Value column makes quick comparisons easy. As a rule of thumb, 5% DV or less per serving is considered low, and 20% DV or more is high. If a product shows 25% DV for added sugars, a single serving accounts for a quarter of your recommended daily limit. Look for the same pattern with saturated fat. Trans fat, another type of solid fat linked to heart disease, doesn’t have a listed Daily Value, so check for 0 grams on the label and scan the ingredient list for “partially hydrogenated” oils.
Ingredients are listed in order of weight. If sugar, corn syrup, or any of its aliases (dextrose, maltose, sucrose, cane juice) appear in the first few ingredients, the product is likely heavy on empty calories.
Nutrient-Dense Swaps That Work
Replacing empty calories doesn’t require a total diet overhaul. Small, consistent swaps make the biggest difference over time.
Refined grains are one of the easiest places to start. White flour and white rice lose much of their natural fiber and nutrients during processing. Switching to whole grains like oats, brown rice, quinoa, or barley brings back fiber, B vitamins, and minerals. Cooked oatmeal runs about 71 calories per 100 grams and delivers steady energy instead of the quick spike and crash you get from a sugary breakfast cereal.
For snacking, fruits and vegetables are hard to beat. A cup of raw broccoli has 31 calories and comes loaded with vitamin C, vitamin K, and fiber. Kale clocks in at just 8 calories per raw cup. These aren’t foods you need to eat in huge quantities to benefit from. Even replacing one daily snack of chips or candy with a piece of fruit and a handful of nuts shifts the balance meaningfully.
Protein choices matter too. Lean options like chicken breast (about 122 calories per thick slice), cod (84 calories per 100 grams), or lentils (114 calories per 100 grams cooked) provide protein, iron, and B vitamins without the solid fat load that comes with processed meats. Plant-based proteins like chickpeas and edamame add fiber on top of protein, something no processed snack food can match.
For dairy, choosing plain low-fat Greek yogurt (73 calories per 100 grams) over flavored varieties can cut 10 to 15 grams of added sugar per serving while giving you more protein and calcium per calorie. If plain yogurt tastes too tart, adding your own fresh berries gives you sweetness with fiber and antioxidants instead of empty sugar calories.
Drinks are often the single highest source of empty calories in a person’s diet, and they’re also the simplest to change. Replacing one daily soda or sweetened coffee drink with water, sparkling water, or unsweetened tea can eliminate 150 to 300 empty calories a day without affecting how full you feel at meals.