Reading PFC balance, and why eating out skews it

What PFC means

PFC stands for protein, fat and carbohydrate — the three energy-bearing nutrients, at 4, 9 and 4 kcal per gram respectively. The fact that fat carries more than twice the energy is what matters most when eating out.

Japan’s Dietary Reference Intakes (2020) target 13–20% of energy from protein, 20–30% from fat and 50–65% from carbohydrate for adults aged 18–49. The bar on each item page shows exactly this split.

Why eating out skews toward fat

Restaurant cooking leans on frying, sautéing and sauces, all of which raise the fat share. Because fat is 9 kcal per gram, the total can climb sharply without the portion looking any bigger. We publish all three PFC values for 22,478 items.

Securing protein

Protein is usually the first thing to fall when people cut calories, yet it is what maintains muscle and organ tissue. A common guide is about 1.0 g per kg of body weight per day (60 g for a 60 kg adult), or 1.2–1.6 g if you train — roughly 20–30 g per meal.

See highest protein meals for a cross-chain ranking.

How to read the chart

Each item page carries a pentagon chart covering energy, protein, fat, carbohydrate and salt, each as a share of the daily reference intake. Whichever direction the shape stretches is where that item is concentrated: protein alone means an efficient choice, while fat and salt stretching out suggests balancing it elsewhere in the day.

Figures in this article are aggregated from the 30,399 items across 191 chains we publish (as of 2026-09-18). Reference values follow Japan’s Dietary Reference Intakes (2020).