Potassium not showing up

catherinekeesee

Hi all. I have a heart condition and trying to track potassium. The labels I have show potassium and even basic info for spinach should be shown in this app. If it doesn’t show properly, it shouldn’t be an option. I have used this app for years but now have to track potassium and I cannot get accurate readings. It is very discouraging. Please...someone managing the code, please add better nutritional values in the database or I will have to leave this app and find another and this is NOT what I want. I have enjoyed this app for years but I need accurate readings. This isn’t just about counting calories. Thanks!!

Lietchi

Entries are mostly added by users, many lack proper micronutrient values because
- micronutrients aren't listed on the label
- they are listed, but whoever created the entry didn't care about them so didn't enter them
If you know the potassium values of the foods you eat, you can always add/correct them yourself and add them to My Foods.

cesse47

If the entry for a particular food item is incorrect or missing, you can go to the Food Database and edit the item to correct it. There is a box in lower left where you can notate what you changed and why; i.e., "Potassium value added" -or- "Potassium value taken from supplement bottle" ... etc. You can also create a new entry if one is not that for your particular food item.

kshama2001

catherinekeesee wrote: »

Hi all. I have a heart condition and trying to track potassium. The labels I have show potassium and even basic info for spinach should be shown in this app. If it doesn’t show properly, it shouldn’t be an option. I have used this app for years but now have to track potassium and I cannot get accurate readings. It is very discouraging. Please...someone managing the code, please add better nutritional values in the database or I will have to leave this app and find another and this is NOT what I want. I have enjoyed this app for years but I need accurate readings. This isn’t just about counting calories. Thanks!!

The coding is working as designed. The reason there are so many entries in the MFP database is because users are allowed to create entries. If users don't care about potassium, or are just sloppy, the entries will be wrong. I'm anemic and see this all the time with iron values.

Additionally, potassium was an optional entry on food labels until 2018.

Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both user-created entries and admin-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. To find admin entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP.

The USDA recently changed the platform for their database and it is unfortunately a little more difficult to use. I uncheck everything but SR Legacy - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

Whole foods from the USDA database WILL include accurate micros like potassium. See "Spinach, raw" in the USDA database: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/fdc-app.html#/food-details/168462/nutrients

Then look for it in the MFP database. In this case, the USDA entry is the first entry for "Spinach, raw" with a green check, and for 100 g of spinach it also has 558 mg of potassium.



Note: any MFP entry that includes "USDA" was user entered.

For packaged foods, I verify the label against what I find in MFP. (Alas, you cannot just scan with your phone and assume what you get is correct.)

I need to increase iron, and I know what foods are high in iron, and I supplement, and don't pay too much attention to the values in MFP for iron.

I imagine in your case you are trying to restrict potassium? In that case, familiarize yourself with high potassium foods, limit those, and in general try to eat whole foods as those are the easiest to find accurate entries, and you should be all set

lynn_glenmont

catherinekeesee wrote: »

Hi all. I have a heart condition and trying to track potassium. The labels I have show potassium and even basic info for spinach should be shown in this app. If it doesn’t show properly, it shouldn’t be an option. I have used this app for years but now have to track potassium and I cannot get accurate readings. It is very discouraging. Please...someone managing the code, please add better nutritional values in the database or I will have to leave this app and find another and this is NOT what I want. I have enjoyed this app for years but I need accurate readings. This isn’t just about counting calories. Thanks!!

I agree with the other responses (entries are user-entered, U.S. food labels have only recently begun to be required to show potassium, etc.), but just want to add that your attempt to request in this discussion forum that someone in charge of the code to make a change would be doomed even if the system weren't working exactly as designed, because MFP isn't really reading these forums for that purpose. You're talking to other readers here. There are moderators, who are user-volunteers who have been given authority to delete posts and threads for violating terms of use, but they're not in charge of the code.