Tracking added sugar

spmw1994

Good morning! Is there a way in this app to distinguish between natural sugar in foods and added sugar? I am working one of the plans and it focuses on tracking added sugar. Thanks

yirara

Not really. Most of the database is user sources, and there's no data field to enter natural or added sugar. Why not simply assume that everything in fruit and veg is natural sugar, and nearly everything else added.

spmw1994

Thanks for replying. The nutrition information only lists the total sugar but I will see if I can back into the added sugar content.

AnnPT77

There IS a field for added sugar. It just isn't filled in in many food database items, because added sugar is on US food labels only semi-recently, and not on labels in some other countries at all. The field doesn't show up in any reports or pages that I know of that give totals. I don't know if it's included in data extracts/downloads.

Someone who cares about it, and has premium MFP, might test that, but I'm on team "don't care" when it comes to added sugar. (I know I don't eat worrisomely much of it, know it doesn't affect the body differently from inherent sugars, and am getting overall good nutrition on appropriate calories while ignoring it, so meh.)

Maybe the field doesn't even show up as below in countries that don't list added sugar on labels; I don't know.

This screen grab is from the pages for adding food to one's diary. I purposely picked a food that I know has some added sugar. Since the field isn't filled in here, presumably, this food was entered in the database before added sugar was on US labels, or by some person who didn't bother to enter it. When adding a food, it's possible to put data in that field. I just tried it with a private custom food, and it worked.

Alatariel75

I just pulled up that same entry Ann, and I don't have the added sugar, net carbs or sugar alcohol fields. I'm in Australia, and not on Premium, so maybe it's a premium feature and not location based. This is the most tempted I've been to try my free trial of Premium haha.

AnnPT77

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I just pulled up that same entry Ann, and I don't have the added sugar, net carbs or sugar alcohol fields. I'm in Australia, and not on Premium, so maybe it's a premium feature and not location based. This is the most tempted I've been to try my free trial of Premium haha.

Do your Australian labels have those items? In the case of net carbs, do your label regulations specify that the food producers should list all or only net carbs in the carb entry?

I'm just curious about whether this is a premium thing, or a US thing. It's a bit much to imagine that the app is in tune with national labeling regs, but maybe. I think someone has mentioned that the MFP net carbs feature isn't on offer in at least one country where carbs on the labels are already net carbs, but I may be remembering inaccurately.

Alatariel75

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I just pulled up that same entry Ann, and I don't have the added sugar, net carbs or sugar alcohol fields. I'm in Australia, and not on Premium, so maybe it's a premium feature and not location based. This is the most tempted I've been to try my free trial of Premium haha.

Do your Australian labels have those items? In the case of net carbs, do your label regulations specify that the food producers should list all or only net carbs in the carb entry?

I'm just curious about whether this is a premium thing, or a US thing. It's a bit much to imagine that the app is in tune with national labeling regs, but maybe. I think someone has mentioned that the MFP net carbs feature isn't on offer in at least one country where carbs on the labels are already net carbs, but I may be remembering inaccurately.

We don't have added sugar on our labels, and Australian labels are already net carbs - fibre is listed completely separately rather than as a subset of carbs.

Honestly, the only think that makes me think it's not a by-country thing is that they've been so useless at any other type of differentiation with the database etc that I'd be amazed if they managed to set up your entries based on your country LOL

yirara

Alatariel75 wrote: »

I just pulled up that same entry Ann, and I don't have the added sugar, net carbs or sugar alcohol fields. I'm in Australia, and not on Premium, so maybe it's a premium feature and not location based. This is the most tempted I've been to try my free trial of Premium haha.

Same here. I'm not sure which app store I'm connected to, possibly Danish or British, but I don't have it.