Google launches new food nutrition search feature to its popular search engine. You can now ask a simple question such as “How many calories are in a carrot?” or ask for a complete nutritional breakdown of an item. Available over the web, mobile and via voice search, Google will answer your food questions. If you prefer a more comprehensive overview of your food item of choice, just type it into the search bar and Google will give you the results.
Starting today you will be able to quickly and easily find extensive nutrition information for over 1,000 fruits, vegetables, meats and meals in search. From the basics of potatoes and carrots to more complex dishes like burritos and chow mein, you can simply ask, “How much protein is in a banana?” or “How many calories are in an avocado?” and get your answer right away. You'll hear the answer to your specific question, see relevant nutrition information under an expansion, and be able to switch to other related foods or serving sizes.
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. 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. For example, when you ask for “summer squash carbs”, we include “zucchini” as a relevant food in the dropdown, because it is a type of summer squash.
Here are a few examples:
- Tempted by some popcorn at the movies? Ask “how many calories are in popcorn” and you’ll get your answer. [Hint: it's 31 calories per cup]
- Perplexed by a food label or recipe? Ask “what nutrients are in breadfruit?” or “is there sugar in granadilla?”
- Big on a high protein diet? Ask “how many carbs in corn?” or simply search for [corn] and you’ll see detailed nutrition info.
This feature will begin start in English and will be rolling out in the US over the next ten days. Over time we’ll be adding more features, foods, and languages. So tap the microphone, give the feature a spin, and soon explore and discover the ins and outs of over 1,000 of your favorite foods.
