Question about logging Calcium

elstay

Hello! I’m a long-time user, but always tracked just calories. I’m 64 years old, and was diagnosed with osteopenia, so I’m starting to track macros and calcium. When I set my goals, the calcium is set up as % of DV. I made it 120% of DV, but then in my food diary, the calcium seems to be logging as mg. I had half a serving of chicken chili, and it logged 226 under calcium. That, along with my breakfast results in my total for the day showing as 152 over my goal, which doesn’t seem right. What am I missing? Thanks so much for your help.

AnnPT77

Though there can be bugs that affect some but not all users, I just checked my diary and nutrition totals so far today, and it looked like everything was adding up correctly.

Is there any possibility that the chicken chili entry you chose in the database was incorrect?

US labels in my cupboard have calcium listed as both mg and percent. MFP wants the percent to be entered, not the mg. But the database is mostly crowd-sourced - entered by regular MFP users like you or me . . . except that some of them might not be as meticulous or accurate as you or I would like.

Maybe someone entered the chicken chili's calcium in mg in the field that's supposed to be a percent. If the chicken chili was your recipe that you entered in the MFP recipe builder, perhaps one of the ingredients had that type of error in it?

That's the only possibility I can think of, off the top of my head, other than the possibility that there's a bug affecting some but not all users.

lesdarts180

I track calcium (osteoporosis) and have to tell you that it's not easy. I check every database entry when I first use it (not just for calcium - fibre is often inaccurate or missing) and correct if necessary.

My "my foods" list is full of corrected products!

Your chicken chili entry sounds very suspect - I wouldn't expect more than a trace of calcium. Bear in mind that, although some fruit and veg have trace amounts of calcium your main source will be milk and milk products. Some soya products contain significant amounts of calcium gained from the processing method. I believe that you can get significant calcium from sardines (and other small fish?) provided you eat the bones.

Here in the UK and Europe calcium is not mandatory on food labels so the information is not widely available. Even on cheese and yogurts it is not always listed.

You can get some information about the calcium content of vegetables and other generic raw foods from the USDA database.

Good luck with halting your osteopenia - mine developed into osteoporosis.

wm3796

@lesdarts180
You may want to consider discussing the calcium issue with your healthcare provider. Not sure if you are actually supplementing with calcium, but recent studies have shown no clear benefit and possible harm with the use of calcium supplements. If you just want to track calcium, then continue on and disregard the post. Just fyi.

lesdarts180

Thankyou for your concern @wm3796 but I am on prescribed medication for the osteoporosis (Alendronic Acid) plus a prescribed calcium supplement.
Our medical centre has stopped prescribing calcium supplements for osteopenia because, as you say, recent studies have indicated no benefit.