Nutrition labels telling lies?

azrubael

I was looking at my numbers today and something just didn't look right to me so I decided to do a little investigation. I always thought that 1 gram of protein / carbohydrates was 4 calories, and one gram of fat was 9. So I added all my macro combinations together and came out almost 200 calories higher that what my total calorie count showed.

This made me dig deeper into the food list itself and I found that while some foods were calculating nearly perfect others were off by as much as 10 calories per serving. So how much can i trust my food labels? Are their calorie counts incorrect, or is my base assumption on the calorie count per gram of carb / fat / protein wrong.

lisadragonflower

Well, per gram, protein is 4 calories, fat is 9, and carbohydrates is 7 calories - so you were a bit off there.

But - food labels do lack accuracy. This is something that's currently in the works for improvement in... 2017? I think? It is really annoying...

AJ_G

Well, per gram, protein is 4 calories, fat is 9, and carbohydrates is 7 calories - so you were a bit off there.

But - food labels do lack accuracy. This is something that's currently in the works for improvement in... 2017? I think? It is really annoying...

Carbohydrates are absolutely NOT 7 calories per gram. I don't know where you got that from. Fat is 9 calories per gram, alcohol is 7 calories per gram, protein is 4 calories per gram, and carbohydrates are 4 calories per gram. There can be variation on the nutrition label from what you see between macros and calories. Part of that can be because insoluble fiber is included in the total carb count but is actually 0 calories per gram. Other variations are caused by rounding that is allowed in the calorie number.

heybales

Who says the item you selected exactly matches the food label?

Many say they used the bar code scanner, and never confirm the info still matches.

Or they selected a user entered item - that is incorrect. Many like that.

Because normally it would be closer over the course of a day.

Unless your day was composed of items all pressing the limits of what is allowed. Like certain flavored waters have 4-5 carbs - but can put 0 calories. Obviously it's 16-20 calories, but if sugar alcohols, your body will never make use of it.

Lleldiranne

Protein and carbs are both 4 per gram. Fat is 9. It's alcohol that has 7 calories per gram. And, actually, even those are rounded to the nearest whole number. (Protein is something like 4.4 .... or some such, I don't recall the exact )

In the U.S. nutrition labels are allowed to be off by a certain percent. I think it makes it easier to say 140 or 150 rather than 147 or something. They also can round fat grams and such, which is how some companies get away with labeling something as no trans fat when a serving actually has .25g. Also recall that it's nearly impossible to the the exact calorie count of any food due to variations in the whole foods themselves, what is available, slight changes in the mix, etc.

In the end, we have to just do the best we can. Be aware of inaccuracies in the food labels, but remember also that the whole TDEE and BMR and other "calories out" calculations are also just estimates. Measure as closely as possible and keep doing what you're doing. You can judge the accuracy of the estimates by how well you're losing (or maintaining, or gaining) weight, and adjust things as needed.

AJ_G

Protein and carbs are both 4 per gram. Fat is 9. It's alcohol that has 7 calories per gram. And, actually, even those are rounded to the nearest whole number. (Protein is something like 4.4 .... or some such, I don't recall the exact )

In the U.S. nutrition labels are allowed to be off by a certain percent. I think it makes it easier to say 140 or 150 rather than 147 or something. They also can round fat grams and such, which is how some companies get away with labeling something as no trans fat when a serving actually has .25g. Also recall that it's nearly impossible to the the exact calorie count of any food due to variations in the whole foods themselves, what is available, slight changes in the mix, etc.

In the end, we have to just do the best we can. Be aware of inaccuracies in the food labels, but remember also that the whole TDEE and BMR and other "calories out" calculations are also just estimates. Measure as closely as possible and keep doing what you're doing. You can judge the accuracy of the estimates by how well you're losing (or maintaining, or gaining) weight, and adjust things as needed.

^ All of this. They generalize with carbs, protein, etc being 4 calories per gram because different forms of carbs and proteins can have different exact calories per gram (3.8, 4.3, etc.) but it's better to make it easy and take the average which is 4. As far as the trans fats, if there is less than half a gram per serving, they can list it as 0g. Because of this, some serving sizes are manipulated to make sure that the trans fats are less than half a gram for the serving sizes etc. The main thing is to just do the best you can. As mentioned everything is an estimate, your TDEE and BMR are estimates. Even if you are as accurate as you can possibly be tracking your food intake, you won't be perfect, just do your best and you'll see results.

amusedmonkey

You can't really be accurate with calories, from labels or otherwise. Too many factors at play:
1. The macronutrients calories are not exact in the first place
2. The item you are eating will not have the same exact composition of the item that was tested in the lab for calories and composition (unless you believe all chickens eat the exact same amount, move the same and have the same weight)
3. You have no idea how many calories your body actually absorbs, it depends on your digestive system and hormones

Now to counteract these inaccuracies one needs to see how THEIR body responds to a certain amount of calories by testing TDEE formulas and adjusting upwards or downwards to match your goal loss/gain. Once you find that balance, eating the same foods you have been eating will tend to produce the same results regardless of how accurate the labels are, so don't fret the rounded numbers. They may actually be higher or lower than they really are no matter how vigilant the company is to be accurate.

mfp2014mfp

There's a certain pasta I buy, (stuffed agnolotti) the package says 350gm, nutrional info is based n 350gm, but when I weigh it, it's always 400gm. Plus side is free food, down side is id be over my cals if I hadnt weighed it :laugh:

azrubael

Great info guys thanks. Just surprised me for a bit and wanted to make sure I wasn't losing my mind...err losing any more of it at least.

_Zardoz_

Food labeling is legally allowed an error rate so it's never going to be perfect. Everything we work on is estimates, estimated workout calories, estimated BMR, TDEE you just have to accept this and adjust if needed

nancytyc

I love when I buy something and the label shows "0 sugars" and then you read the ingredients and it shows "sugar" as the actual third ingredient in the product. Now, I know they are allowed to put "0 sugar" if there is actually less than 1 gram of sugar (even if it is 0.99 grams). But, as a diabetic, eat 10 servings of somethings that are 0 sugar, but really 0.99 sugar, and I have eaten almost 10 grams of sugar. It is insane.

For myself, I look at the ingredients and match them with some common sense against the nutritional label. Hope this thought helps you some. We almost need to be private eyes to get it figured out sometimes. Good Luck!