Google adds nutrition information for popular foods to its search results
Jun 5, 2013, 5:41 PM | Updated: 5:41 pm
SALT LAKE CITY — The balance between eating right and “eating for sport” is often a challenge, thanks to delicious looking recipes on social networks like Pinterest and Facebook. Google is hoping to make food choices a little easier, by showing nutritional information for popular foods right in the search results.
From apples to zucchini, and even complex dishes like burritos, Google says the nutrition facts will be displayed right at the top of the search results page.
“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,” wrote Google's product manager Ilya Mezheritsky on the Inside Search blog. “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.”
Google says the nutrition info comes from its Knowledge Graph, which is a semantic information base the company uses to enhance its search results.
Right now, around 1,000 different food items and dishes are included in Google's English search results, and Google says more items will soon be rolled out in the U.S.
Andrew Johnson is a multimedia journalist whose stories have been seen on KSL.com, read in the Deseret News and heard on KSL Newsradio. He now runs 24saltlake.com, a Utah news and information site.
