Needing help understanding RDI percentages

scooterswife1

Hi everyone. Wondering if someone can explain how the percentages work for calcium. I have a protein powder with 308 mgs of calcium and when I look at the nutrient igo, it tells me I am 308% over my daily RDI for just that food. That's not correct. Today I consumed 500% of my calcium goal. How do I interpret this correctly?

scooterswife1

Thank you. I will try that today. 😁

cmriverside

You could be misreading your label, or it could be misprinted or you might be using an entry in the myfitnesspal database that is entered incorrectly. Calcium values on myfitnesspal are to be stated in percentages, so it might be that…

The daily requirements for nutrients can be found on your government's website, I found this chart for Calcium on the NIH

Table 1: Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for Calcium [1]

Age	Male	Female	Pregnant	Lactating
0–6 months*	200 mg	200 mg
7–12 months*	260 mg	260 mg
1–3 years	700 mg	700 mg
4–8 years	1,000 mg	1,000 mg
9–13 years	1,300 mg	1,300 mg
14–18 years	1,300 mg	1,300 mg	1,300 mg	1,300 mg
19–50 years	1,000 mg	1,000 mg	1,000 mg	1,000 mg
51–70 years	1,000 mg	1,200 mg
>70+ years	1,200 mg	1,200 mg

AnnPT77

Yes to what Riverside said.

Another thing to keep in mind, though: For nutrients MFP tracks in percents (such as calcium) that's theoretically in the database as percent of US RDA, which may not match other countries' RDA.

Further, the person - regular MFP user, in most cases - who input a food item in the MFP database could've been looking at any country's nutrition label, at any point in time, so the percent on their label might not be that same percent of the current US RDA. You can handle that by checking that the database entry matches the package you're eating food from, or matches some other confirmed source.

If need be, you can also reset your MFP goal percent to something other than 100%, by looking at the current US RDA in comparison to your personal calcium goal.

scooterswife1

Thank you. The default is 100. I am assuming that is 1,000mgs which is the RDI. My issue is that when I scan something that contains 300mgs of calcium on label, it comes up in my percentages as 308% of the RDI, when it's only 308mgs out of 1000. Never great at math, so just wondering how I know when I have consumed my Rdi of 1,000mgs?

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48608110#Comment_48608110

Ifyou're using the bar code scanner, a thing to know is that those database entries were created by regular MFP users, just like most other foods in the database.

Counter to many people's expectations, bar codes aren't a direct pipeline to current, accurate data from the manufacturer.

A common error is the user inputting mg or mcg where what they should input is percent. Sounds like that entry error could be what you're seeing.

Solution? Search by typing in the food name, find an accurate entry, log that instead of the inaccurate bar-coded one.

cmriverside

Solution? Search by typing in the food name, find an accurate entry, log that instead of the inaccurate bar-coded one.

Or create your own new entry into the database.