Nutrition measurements?

harpy4ire

Ok does anyone know what units are used to measure sugar, iron levels and the like? And how exactly they figure out how much of each you should be consuming? Coz it's kinda confusing me like whoa

yarwell

Ok does anyone know what units are used to measure sugar, iron levels and the like? And how exactly they figure out how much of each you should be consuming? Coz it's kinda confusing me like whoa

Typically grams for things like sugar, protein, fat

For trace elements / minerals / micronutrients milligrams or micrograms are more common,

Micronutrients are usually given target values based on evidence of illness or diseases at inadequate levels.

harpy4ire

So then how do they work out nutritional needs? Coz everywhere else says I should be consuming 18mg of iron daily whereas this site claims I should be aiming for 100. What gives?

FIT_Goat

18mg would be the minimum. Also, if you are a vegetarian, you should aim for at least 33mg (due to poor absorption of iron from plant sources). Eating and drinking certain foods with your iron source (tea, coffee, calcium, and more) can negatively effect absorption even more by up to 70%. If you hit 100mg a day, you're certainly within the safe range even considering all the possible things that could reduce the amount that you actually absorb from the food.

I haven't checked what it recommends here, but it doesn't seem outrageous to aim for 100mg.

Edit: The report shows it compared to 100% of RDA not mg. The above information is something to keep in mind, but it's not how it's shown here. I'm not sure which RDA value they use and if they use different ones based on age, gender, etc.

yarwell

So then how do they work out nutritional needs? Coz everywhere else says I should be consuming 18mg of iron daily whereas this site claims I should be aiming for 100. What gives?

This site uses % of RDA for micronutrients. So if you clock 100 on iron you've met the RDA which may indeed be 18 milligrams.