Google has a neat little feature that gives the nutritional content for different kinds of food and, surprisingly, not many people know about it.
Now you can simply punch in your calorie, fat, sugar or salt question on the world's leading search engine when you eat out, and Google will dutifully tell you what's in that delicious-looking dish you're about to demolish.
If your query is "How many calories are there in chicken?" the feature shocks you with a drop-down menu that offers a list of the different kinds of chicken preparations you're likely to consume. It even recognizes McDonald's Premium Grilled Chicken Classic Sandwich, Popeye's Bonafide Chicken and Cracker Barrel Chicken Tenderloin Platter. However, the default answer would be 239 calories for 100 grams of chicken meat.
It's certainly the kind of specific information that diet-conscious individuals dig, or for that matter any individual who likes to know exactly how much fat, salt, and sugar their bodies consume with everyday meals. Although the feature cannot compare the calorie count for two or more food items, it certainly ups the game for Google when people open the search site and type in the specifics before checking into any restaurant.
It appears that Google has every intention to bring this little-known feature to the public eye. In June last year, the company flaunted a new app called Im2Calories, which is powered by artificial intelligence technology. This application is designed to tell how many calories a dish contains simply by looking at a still picture, but it isn't available for use yet. The last time Google demonstrated this app, its accuracy was at only 30 percent, but it's possible the company will tap the highly potential market with an improved version soon.
The easily accessible "What's in your food" feature will definitely give other similar services tough competition in this growing market of healthy eaters. Just how much Google manages to eat into the market is something we need to watch and weigh.
Photo: Perry Hall | Flickr
