Question about MFP's Daily Value of Iron

Grimmerick

I am trying to figure out how many mg's of Iron MFP has set to equal 100% of daily value. I can only find iron referred to in percentages, but I want to know how many milligrams they consider 100%. For a female my age it's 15grams, but I wanted to know if thats what they have me set for. Any help is appreciated Thanks!

Grammy605

My question exactly! Thanks for any input.

CyberTone

​MFP uses percent Daily Reference Values (DRVs) based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Since 100g "Spinach - Raw" contains 2.71mg iron, you can check how many grams of spinach gets you to 100% DRV.

For your case, 15mg * (100g spinach / 2.71mg iron) = 554g "Spinach - Raw."

Go to a blank day in your diary and enter 554g of "Spinach - Raw" in one of the meal slots; if your total iron intake equals 100%, then it is correct.

If not, check how many grams of "Spinach - Raw" gets you to a total of 100%; then multiply the grams by 2.71 and divide by 100 to find out how many mg iron that is.

Note, for most men 664g "Spinach - Raw" * (2.71 / 100) = 18mg iron or 100% DRV.

Grimmerick

CyberTone wrote: »

​MFP uses percent Daily Reference Values (DRVs) based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Since 100g "Spinach - Raw" contains 2.71mg iron, you can check how many grams of spinach gets you to 100% DRV.

For your case, 15mg * (100g spinach / 2.71mg iron) = 554g "Spinach - Raw."

Go to a blank day in your diary and enter 554g of "Spinach - Raw" in one of the meal slots; if your total iron intake equals 100%, then it is correct.

If not, check how many grams of "Spinach - Raw" gets you to a total of 100%; then multiply the grams by 2.71 and divide by 100 to find out how many mg iron that is.

Note, for most men 664g "Spinach - Raw" * (2.71 / 100) = 18mg iron or 100% DRV.

Thank you, that's a really good idea!

VeryKatie

emmydoodles83 wrote: »

I am trying to figure out how many mg's of Iron MFP has set to equal 100% of daily value. I can only find iron referred to in percentages, but I want to know how many milligrams they consider 100%. For a female my age it's 15grams, but I wanted to know if thats what they have me set for. Any help is appreciated Thanks!

MFP (USA) bases it on 8 mg (as do all packaging labels). Females need 18mg... so I manually set my iron goals to 225%

Can I ask where you got the 15 grams (milligrams?) from? Maybe you're in a different country... but this is how I calculated my MFP settings based on 18 mg. If you use 15 mg, the answer would be 187.5%.



(The simple version is to just do 18/8 = 2.25 = 225%)

Something I'm still trying to figure out is if the MFP entries take into consideration that only about 40-50% of plant based iron is absorbed by the body. Or if the recommendation takes that into consideration. I saw somewhere that vegetarians need to consume 1.8 times the amount of iron as someone who eats foods with heme iron.

This is why I think the DV system is stupid. You need to know what kind of iron and how much, not what percent based on something that is undefined on packaging and isn't even relatively close for probably 30% of the population (just throwing that number out there. Child bearing age women and vegetarians/vegans/people who simply tend not to eat a lot of red meat or seafood)

I bet calcium is also like this... I should look that up too.

Grimmerick

VeryKatie wrote: »

emmydoodles83 wrote: »

I am trying to figure out how many mg's of Iron MFP has set to equal 100% of daily value. I can only find iron referred to in percentages, but I want to know how many milligrams they consider 100%. For a female my age it's 15grams, but I wanted to know if thats what they have me set for. Any help is appreciated Thanks!

MFP (USA) bases it on 8 mg (as do all packaging labels). Females need 18mg... so I manually set my iron goals to 225%

Can I ask where you got the 15 grams (milligrams?) from? Maybe you're in a different country... but this is how I calculated my MFP settings based on 18 mg. If you use 15 mg, the answer would be 187.5%.



(The simple version is to just do 18/8 = 2.25 = 225%)

Something I'm still trying to figure out is if the MFP entries take into consideration that only about 40-50% of plant based iron is absorbed by the body. Or if the recommendation takes that into consideration. I saw somewhere that vegetarians need to consume 1.8 times the amount of iron as someone who eats foods with heme iron.

This is why I think the DV system is stupid. You need to know what kind of iron and how much, not what percent based on something that is undefined on packaging and isn't even relatively close for probably 30% of the population (just throwing that number out there. Child bearing age women and vegetarians/vegans/people who simply tend not to eat a lot of red meat or seafood)

I bet calcium is also like this... I should look that up too.

You're right it is 18mg. Age14-18 is 15mg. I am way out of that range lol......damn. For a while I was worried I wasn't getting enough iron because I don't eat most meats. I eat seafood, and eggs. So most of my iron is not Heme, but I did have bloodwork done not long ago and I was in a good range on the lower end but still normal. I do try now to pair meals with iron with vitamin C to boost absorbency. Also if I eat an iron rich meal I try not to eat it with something high in calcium as they lessen the absorption of each other, so maybe that helps too. Sometimes I feel like I am playing nutritional whack-a-mole, solve one problem then another pops right up. lol Thanks for your input I am going to reset my iron percentages. Oh please let me know if you do the calcium percentage too I would like to know what you get with that.

CyberTone

@VeryKatie

The recommended Daily Value found on US Nutrition Facts labels for iron is 18mg, not 8 mg.

---

Reference:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm

VeryKatie

CyberTone wrote: »

@VeryKatie

The recommended Daily Value found on US Nutrition Facts labels for iron is 18mg, not 8 mg.

---

Reference:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm

Oh that's interesting! I guess it's just Canada then? I want to see if I can find that info in my country.

Doop doop...

AH! Canada is currently 14 mg. How wrong I was. What was I reading. Bah. And they have proposed to change it. Thanks @CyberTone

So OP, you should check yours based on your country of residence!

So I need 129% then.

Grimmerick

VeryKatie wrote: »

CyberTone wrote: »

@VeryKatie

The recommended Daily Value found on US Nutrition Facts labels for iron is 18mg, not 8 mg.

---

Reference:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm

Oh that's interesting! I guess it's just Canada then? I want to see if I can find that info in my country.

Doop doop...

AH! Canada is currently 14 mg. How wrong I was. What was I reading. Bah. And they have proposed to change it. Thanks @CyberTone

So OP, you should check yours based on your country of residence!

So I need 129% then.

It says 8mg for a man 19-50. But females 18mg for ages 19-50. You're both right lol just depends on the sex. At least that is what it says here. One thing I hate/love about the internet, Every site is different.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/#h2

VeryKatie

emmydoodles83 wrote: »

VeryKatie wrote: »

CyberTone wrote: »

@VeryKatie

The recommended Daily Value found on US Nutrition Facts labels for iron is 18mg, not 8 mg.

---

Reference:
http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm

Oh that's interesting! I guess it's just Canada then? I want to see if I can find that info in my country.

Doop doop...

AH! Canada is currently 14 mg. How wrong I was. What was I reading. Bah. And they have proposed to change it. Thanks @CyberTone

So OP, you should check yours based on your country of residence!

So I need 129% then.

It says 8mg for a man 19-50. But females 18mg for ages 19-50. You're both right lol just depends on the sex. At least that is what it says here. One thing I hate/love about the internet, Every site is different.

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-HealthProfessional/#h2

http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm

I got to that link from the site you provided. It does confirm that if you're reading the package on a food, and it lists a %DV for iron, it is based on the need for 18 mg. So if it says 20%, it's 20% for women 19-50 (I'm pretty sure they actually mean if you still menstruate) but actually 45% for men!