At least in the United States, there seems to be two distinctly different groups sharing very little middle ground when it comes to what foods they put in their bodies. One group at their extreme end can be seen eating foods at Midwestern State Fairs. Foods that make even me as a heavy smoker cringe when I think of what they are doing to the arteries of those who digest them.
A perfect example of what I’m speaking of came from my home state of Wisconsin at its State Fair last year, a take on the Luther Burger named for the singer Luther Vandross. The burger was comprised of a half-pound patty with melted cheddar cheese, chocolate covered bacon, all served between a split and fried Krispy Kreme donut.
The other group is extreme on the other end of the spectrum. This group actually counts calories and looks at the sodium and cholesterol content of the foods they eat. Starting today, Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) has something for both groups though its quite clear which group will take advantage of the information. Google is now providing nutritional information for around 1000 food items on the search result screen if the user simply types in something to the effect of “How many calories in an avocado.”
Explanation Of Google’s Product Manager
“This new nutritional information builds on our work on the Knowledge Graph, which brings together all kinds of information from across the web that wasn’t easily accessible,” explains Ilya Mezheritsky, Product Manager at Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG). “The graph helps us connect things that are related, even in cases when those foods have a completely different sounding name from what you asked.”
Android users will also be able to verbally query their phones in order to receive nutritional information from the search giant. Presently this addition to search is only available in the United States and in English. Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) will begin rolling out this feature to other countries and languages once the U.S. search has had the wrinkles ironed out in the coming weeks.
This nutritional information is similar with what Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) did last November when they began providing right-side information on the search results page for numerous prescription medications.
