How acute are the nutrients really?

mikejw5426
mikejw5426 Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Just recently been wanting to add more potassium in my diet cause the app tells me I'm not getting hardly any in the food I eat. So I double checked and the app says chicken breast doesn't have any potassium in it, which in turn, chicken breast has 332 mg in a 3oz serving.

Answers

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,341 Member
    Inaccurate to the point of uselessness.

    The vast majority of entries in the database are added by users, from food labels. Food labels generally do not have micronutrient information, so it just gets left blank in the database entries. Even the green tick entries rarely have that info.

    The app can be useful to track your intake if you are creating entries with micronutrients included, which information you'll need to verify or source elsewhere, but using existing entries to track it is useless or worse (I say worse because if someone believes the low count from their totals and starts supplementing where they don't need it, it could cause issues).
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    edited November 1
    They are not accurate unless you choose entries that include the accurate data - as they are user sourced, many don't contain all of the nutrition info (just calories, macros) so...basically MFP is not an appropriate tool to track micro-nutrients accurately. Just macros, and even still there are entries that are not accurate if someone put it in incorrectly.

    EDIT: as the other responder said - no one should be using data from MFP regarding micro-nutrients to supplement things that are 'low' bc they may in fact, not be low.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,024 Member
    Being nutritionally deficient means that your body isn't working in the most optimal way. Things like no energy, no focus, aches and pains, length of recovery, susceptibility to illness are all consequences of lack of nutritional values your body may have.
    Our bodies function on a chemical level, and if the chemicals needed in your body aren't in sync, then you'll feel off or not have your body working optimally.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 40 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • jeri30
    jeri30 Posts: 88 Member
    edited November 2
    MFP is incredibly untrustworthy. I find almost all entries to be wrong in some aspect, which is why I create my own and don't share them because once shared, others can edit the entry and mess it up.

    If you want to nutrient track more reliably, I suggest Cronometer https://cronometer.com/ or

    Nutritionix https://www.nutritionix.com

    Their databases are not built by the users, but by the companies based on the USDA nutrition data site: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/

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