Accuracy of info?

jheddlesten

I just have a quick question. Is anyone overseeing/monitoring this site, reviewing added info to make sure it's accurate, and deleting what is NOT accurate? Some food items do not even show all the information available, and some say "corrected" or something similar, but very few even match.

Or, is this site run solely by those who use it, and no one deletes erroneous info when accurate info is added. There are many duplicate items listed, many of which have differing numbers of calories, carbs, sodium, etc. How do you know which one is correct? If info is not accurate, why would anyone use it? Perhaps that's just me. Clearly all of you who do use it, are happy with it the way it is, so this is not a complaint necessarily, just a personal observation.

Lietchi

jheddlesten wrote: »

I just have a quick question. Is anyone overseeing/monitoring this site, reviewing added info to make sure it's accurate, and deleting what is NOT accurate? Some food items do not even show all the information available, and some say "corrected" or something similar, but very few even match.

Or, is this site run solely by those who use it, and no one deletes erroneous info when accurate info is added. There are many duplicate items listed, many of which have differing numbers of calories, carbs, sodium, etc. How do you know which one is correct? If info is not accurate, why would anyone use it? Perhaps that's just me. Clearly all of you who do use it, are happy with it the way it is, so this is not a complaint necessarily, just a personal observation.

Option number 2 😉
I check against what the label says and if there's no label the USDA website or other sources online. A hassle for new foods, but after a while a lot of foods will be in your Recent Foods which makes it easier.

janejellyroll

The vast majority of entries have been entered by your fellow users. Any verification that is happening is also by fellow users. It's about as good as any crowd sourced information -- some entries are exactly right, many are somewhat right (like maybe the calories are fine, but the macro/micro information is off), and some are awful. Also there are many entries that may be right for one geographic location but not another or that were right at one time, but the product has been reformulated. There are also entries that could be correct, but are so vague or dependent on personal circumstances that they're useless for another user (think "ham sandwich," -- what does that mean, how much bread, how much ham, are there other toppings?).

I double-check all my frequently used entries for accuracy using sources I have confidence in (product labels, USDA website, etc). I make sure to enter my own recipes when possible and avoid generic/homemade user entries whenever possible.

I would bet that most long-term users of MFP are NOT happy with it the way it is, we just happen -- for various reasons -- to be using it instead of another free calorie logging app. There is at least one calorie/macro logging site that I think is superior to MFP. Why am I not there? Well, by the time I found it, I had a few years of recipes already entered here, I was a part of the community, and I'd already researched a base of trusted database entries. It just didn't seem worth the trouble to switch. But if I had found that one first, I might be logging there instead.

westrich20940

janejellyroll wrote: »

The vast majority of entries have been entered by your fellow users. Any verification that is happening is also by fellow users. It's about as good as any crowd sourced information -- some entries are exactly right, many are somewhat right (like maybe the calories are fine, but the macro/micro information is off), and some are awful. Also there are many entries that may be right for one geographic location but not another or that were right at one time, but the product has been reformulated. There are also entries that could be correct, but are so vague or dependent on personal circumstances that they're useless for another user (think "ham sandwich," -- what does that mean, how much bread, how much ham, are there other toppings?).

I double-check all my frequently used entries for accuracy using sources I have confidence in (product labels, USDA website, etc). I make sure to enter my own recipes when possible and avoid generic/homemade user entries whenever possible.

I would bet that most long-term users of MFP are NOT happy with it the way it is, we just happen -- for various reasons -- to be using it instead of another free calorie logging app. There is at least one calorie/macro logging site that I think is superior to MFP. Why am I not there? Well, by the time I found it, I had a few years of recipes already entered here, I was a part of the community, and I'd already researched a base of trusted database entries. It just didn't seem worth the trouble to switch. But if I had found that one first, I might be logging there instead.

What is this 'superior' app? I have no strong allegiance here, lol

janejellyroll

westrich20940 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

The vast majority of entries have been entered by your fellow users. Any verification that is happening is also by fellow users. It's about as good as any crowd sourced information -- some entries are exactly right, many are somewhat right (like maybe the calories are fine, but the macro/micro information is off), and some are awful. Also there are many entries that may be right for one geographic location but not another or that were right at one time, but the product has been reformulated. There are also entries that could be correct, but are so vague or dependent on personal circumstances that they're useless for another user (think "ham sandwich," -- what does that mean, how much bread, how much ham, are there other toppings?).

I double-check all my frequently used entries for accuracy using sources I have confidence in (product labels, USDA website, etc). I make sure to enter my own recipes when possible and avoid generic/homemade user entries whenever possible.

I would bet that most long-term users of MFP are NOT happy with it the way it is, we just happen -- for various reasons -- to be using it instead of another free calorie logging app. There is at least one calorie/macro logging site that I think is superior to MFP. Why am I not there? Well, by the time I found it, I had a few years of recipes already entered here, I was a part of the community, and I'd already researched a base of trusted database entries. It just didn't seem worth the trouble to switch. But if I had found that one first, I might be logging there instead.

What is this 'superior' app? I have no strong allegiance here, lol

This post may be deleted, but it's Cronometer. The main difference is that they have a curated database of a lot of foods drawn from other (reliable) databases. Nothing user-created except for what you create yourself. Since people can't share their custom entries, you don't wind up with dozens of entries for the same item or inaccurate entries. The main drawback is that if you're eating a lot of newer foods or restaurant foods, you will have to create your own entries (since you can't draw on the crowd-sourced aspect for newer stuff). But since most of what I eat is "ingredients" that are in things like the USDA database it really wasn't a problem for me to create entries for the few things I ate that weren't.

A big difference is that because the info is drawn from databases, you can track a huge array of micronutrients. For example, you can see how much you're getting of certain minerals or vitamin K or even break your protein down into specific amino acids (if that's something that is relevant to you). This is because the databases have that information even though it isn't on nutritional labels. If you wind up creating your own foods a lot, those entries won't have the detailed information -- but for someone with specialized nutritional needs or just a craving for data, it is pretty cool. (The data WILL be there for recipes, assuming you're using the core database entries to create your recipes).

Another big bonus for cooks is that you can add a recipe TO a recipe (like if you have a recipe for your homemade tomato sauce and a recipe for your tofu ricotta and your tempeh sausage, you can easily take those recipes and add all or part of the batch to, say, your recipe for lasagna). It makes logging much easier if you're cooking a lot of component dishes. This is probably the number one feature I wish MFP would adopt.

I spent a period of about six months logging both here and there to test out the differences between the two. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it, I just wound up staying here because there isn't as much of a community over there.

cwolfman13

jheddlesten wrote: »

I just have a quick question. Is anyone overseeing/monitoring this site, reviewing added info to make sure it's accurate, and deleting what is NOT accurate? Some food items do not even show all the information available, and some say "corrected" or something similar, but very few even match.

Or, is this site run solely by those who use it, and no one deletes erroneous info when accurate info is added. There are many duplicate items listed, many of which have differing numbers of calories, carbs, sodium, etc. How do you know which one is correct? If info is not accurate, why would anyone use it? Perhaps that's just me. Clearly all of you who do use it, are happy with it the way it is, so this is not a complaint necessarily, just a personal observation.

Database entries are crowd sourced for the most part by users. Typically there will be multiple entries for a particular item and you just have to locate the one that matches the nutritional label of your product. For whole food items, tag your search with "USDA" and you can verify against the USDA website. After you use this for awhile, you start building your own "library" of frequent foods, etc.

As mentioned Cronometer is supposed to have a very good database...I'm not sure if it was around when I started using MFP back in 2012, but I don't log anymore and haven't in years and I stick around here largely for the community aspect. There doesn't seem to be a whole lot of activity on the Cronometer forums.

dragon_girl26

janejellyroll wrote: »

westrich20940 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

The vast majority of entries have been entered by your fellow users. Any verification that is happening is also by fellow users. It's about as good as any crowd sourced information -- some entries are exactly right, many are somewhat right (like maybe the calories are fine, but the macro/micro information is off), and some are awful. Also there are many entries that may be right for one geographic location but not another or that were right at one time, but the product has been reformulated. There are also entries that could be correct, but are so vague or dependent on personal circumstances that they're useless for another user (think "ham sandwich," -- what does that mean, how much bread, how much ham, are there other toppings?).

I double-check all my frequently used entries for accuracy using sources I have confidence in (product labels, USDA website, etc). I make sure to enter my own recipes when possible and avoid generic/homemade user entries whenever possible.

I would bet that most long-term users of MFP are NOT happy with it the way it is, we just happen -- for various reasons -- to be using it instead of another free calorie logging app. There is at least one calorie/macro logging site that I think is superior to MFP. Why am I not there? Well, by the time I found it, I had a few years of recipes already entered here, I was a part of the community, and I'd already researched a base of trusted database entries. It just didn't seem worth the trouble to switch. But if I had found that one first, I might be logging there instead.

What is this 'superior' app? I have no strong allegiance here, lol

This post may be deleted, but it's Cronometer. The main difference is that they have a curated database of a lot of foods drawn from other (reliable) databases. Nothing user-created except for what you create yourself. Since people can't share their custom entries, you don't wind up with dozens of entries for the same item or inaccurate entries. The main drawback is that if you're eating a lot of newer foods or restaurant foods, you will have to create your own entries (since you can't draw on the crowd-sourced aspect for newer stuff). But since most of what I eat is "ingredients" that are in things like the USDA database it really wasn't a problem for me to create entries for the few things I ate that weren't.

A big difference is that because the info is drawn from databases, you can track a huge array of micronutrients. For example, you can see how much you're getting of certain minerals or vitamin K or even break your protein down into specific amino acids (if that's something that is relevant to you). This is because the databases have that information even though it isn't on nutritional labels. If you wind up creating your own foods a lot, those entries won't have the detailed information -- but for someone with specialized nutritional needs or just a craving for data, it is pretty cool. (The data WILL be there for recipes, assuming you're using the core database entries to create your recipes).

Another big bonus for cooks is that you can add a recipe TO a recipe (like if you have a recipe for your homemade tomato sauce and a recipe for your tofu ricotta and your tempeh sausage, you can easily take those recipes and add all or part of the batch to, say, your recipe for lasagna). It makes logging much easier if you're cooking a lot of component dishes. This is probably the number one feature I wish MFP would adopt.

I spent a period of about six months logging both here and there to test out the differences between the two. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it, I just wound up staying here because there isn't as much of a community over there.

I've never heard of this app..just curious to know if their entries allow people to log servings by weight, or is strictly volume?

janejellyroll

dragon_girl26 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

westrich20940 wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

The vast majority of entries have been entered by your fellow users. Any verification that is happening is also by fellow users. It's about as good as any crowd sourced information -- some entries are exactly right, many are somewhat right (like maybe the calories are fine, but the macro/micro information is off), and some are awful. Also there are many entries that may be right for one geographic location but not another or that were right at one time, but the product has been reformulated. There are also entries that could be correct, but are so vague or dependent on personal circumstances that they're useless for another user (think "ham sandwich," -- what does that mean, how much bread, how much ham, are there other toppings?).

I double-check all my frequently used entries for accuracy using sources I have confidence in (product labels, USDA website, etc). I make sure to enter my own recipes when possible and avoid generic/homemade user entries whenever possible.

I would bet that most long-term users of MFP are NOT happy with it the way it is, we just happen -- for various reasons -- to be using it instead of another free calorie logging app. There is at least one calorie/macro logging site that I think is superior to MFP. Why am I not there? Well, by the time I found it, I had a few years of recipes already entered here, I was a part of the community, and I'd already researched a base of trusted database entries. It just didn't seem worth the trouble to switch. But if I had found that one first, I might be logging there instead.

What is this 'superior' app? I have no strong allegiance here, lol

This post may be deleted, but it's Cronometer. The main difference is that they have a curated database of a lot of foods drawn from other (reliable) databases. Nothing user-created except for what you create yourself. Since people can't share their custom entries, you don't wind up with dozens of entries for the same item or inaccurate entries. The main drawback is that if you're eating a lot of newer foods or restaurant foods, you will have to create your own entries (since you can't draw on the crowd-sourced aspect for newer stuff). But since most of what I eat is "ingredients" that are in things like the USDA database it really wasn't a problem for me to create entries for the few things I ate that weren't.

A big difference is that because the info is drawn from databases, you can track a huge array of micronutrients. For example, you can see how much you're getting of certain minerals or vitamin K or even break your protein down into specific amino acids (if that's something that is relevant to you). This is because the databases have that information even though it isn't on nutritional labels. If you wind up creating your own foods a lot, those entries won't have the detailed information -- but for someone with specialized nutritional needs or just a craving for data, it is pretty cool. (The data WILL be there for recipes, assuming you're using the core database entries to create your recipes).

Another big bonus for cooks is that you can add a recipe TO a recipe (like if you have a recipe for your homemade tomato sauce and a recipe for your tofu ricotta and your tempeh sausage, you can easily take those recipes and add all or part of the batch to, say, your recipe for lasagna). It makes logging much easier if you're cooking a lot of component dishes. This is probably the number one feature I wish MFP would adopt.

I spent a period of about six months logging both here and there to test out the differences between the two. I can't think of anything I didn't like about it, I just wound up staying here because there isn't as much of a community over there.

I've never heard of this app..just curious to know if their entries allow people to log servings by weight, or is strictly volume?

I log by weight and I never had a problem finding appropriate entries.

figurethefat

I usually have a quick look at the nutrition info before I use a food entry for the first time. Sometimes there an obvious problem. If you see a problem you can fix it... Also if there are several entries of the same or similar I use one with a green tick which I believe means it has been verified by another user. I like to use grams so I usually try to find entries in grams rather than ounces, cups, tablespoons, etc.

So bottom line is if you see something that's wrong take a few minutes to fix it, ie copying the correct details from the label or the website for the product that gives the nutrition details.