PLEASE STOP! (If you don't know the nutritional values, don

cobarlo14

what urks me is when someone enters only the calories and puts 0 for everything else. lol

Me too - I am right there with ya!I have to watch protein too...

ladyhawk00

Some of this has already been mentioned, but for those who haven't seen it or aren't aware....

The food database is largely entered by users. Some entries (those without asterisks) are "standard" entries. And, if you have created/edited a food it will not have an asterisk. But the rest are user entered and there several variables that can make the entries for the same thing different.

First, there are people from all over the world on MFP, and the same product can have different ingredients/portions in different countries, or even regions of the same country.

Also, over time, companies change recipes, change package size/portion size, etc. So even a couple of months can mean the same item can have different values.

And, of course, there is always user error. Some people also don't track all of the different nutrients, so they may enter only calories.

However, remember that you can edit/correct an entry if you believe it is inaccurate. Pull up the nutrition box and there is an option there to correct it. And, whenever possible, look through ALL of the entries to find one that matches what you need, rather than further cluttering up the database with ANOTHER new entry.

The site creators (Mike and Al) are continually working on verifying and cleaning up database information and it is a top priority, but there are literally tens of thousands of entries - so it does take time. Try to be patient.

Becca_007

Go to a store or do some online browsing and look at the nutritional labels for three different honey hams from three different sources and you're likely to get three different results that way too. Yes, something like a chicken breast not havin protein entered is clearly wrong. But don't assume entries are "wrong" just because they're different.

Also keep in kind that companies themselves change nutritional info. Not long ago FiberOne 90 calories chocolate PB bars disappeared from the shelves and reappeared a few weeks later. When the new ones hit shelves again I picked up a box. Compared the info to the old box we still had at home (I buy 'em for the hubby mostly and he'd stockpiled when he saw they were disappearing from shelves) and two or three of the nutritional items had changed. And when I took one to throw in the car when I'd be on the road for awhile, when I went to enter it in MFP, all of the entries were "wrong" because they still had the old info. So I had to create a new entry that matched the new label. No one had entered the info wrong, it just became wrong as soon as the company updated their label.

To sum up, I just wouldn't be so quick to come down on the users of MFP for creating a messy database. There are a lot of factors out there that contribute to multiple and different entries. And I didn't even touch on how labels for the same exact products could be different between the US and other countries due to their food labeling laws. lol

Thank you! So very true, there are many factors to consider! Food labels are changing everyday as the companies make portion sizes smaller and and packages contain less items.

Becca_007

Some of this has already been mentioned, but for those who haven't seen it or aren't aware....

The food database is largely entered by users. Some entries (those without asterisks) are "standard" entries. And, if you have created/edited a food it will not have an asterisk. But the rest are user entered and there several variables that can make the entries for the same thing different.

First, there are people from all over the world on MFP, and the same product can have different ingredients/portions in different countries, or even regions of the same country.

Also, over time, companies change recipes, change package size/portion size, etc. So even a couple of months can mean the same item can have different values.

And, of course, there is always user error. Some people also don't track all of the different nutrients, so they may enter only calories.

However, remember that you can edit/correct an entry if you believe it is inaccurate. Pull up the nutrition box and there is an option there to correct it. And, whenever possible, look through ALL of the entries to find one that matches what you need, rather than further cluttering up the database with ANOTHER new entry.

The site creators (Mike and Al) are continually working on verifying and cleaning up database information and it is a top priority, but there are literally tens of thousands of entries - so it does take time. Try to be patient.

:flowerforyou: Thanks!

Becca_007

Lately I have been confirming info on the items I use that are correct and if I have time, editing all of the wrong ones I encounter. .

That's awesome! That helps the entire site out when each of us takes time to edit a few items while we're at the database already. I'm sure it's appreciated by all!

1234lbsgone

I usually edit them if they are incorrect. I always check everything before I add to my diary.

Funny note on the search thing..... I ate regualr potato chips. Lays I think. I went to add them to my diary and every Lays entry was for Baked Lays. There were like 40 entries for Baked Lays, wavy Lays, different flavors... and not one for just regular potato chips. LOL Till I scrolled ALLLLL the way down there was an entry that said... "Lays potato chips, not baked, not wavy Just PLAIN." So I guess somone else shared my frustration at some point. The info was perfectly correct too.

Also, I confess that sometimes I just add a food (correctly of course) when I have a problem finding it. Like, I put in raisans and I get 100 choices of things that contain raisins. So instead of scrolling and correcting, I just add my own.

smlamb33

:flowerforyou: Yes, I find that food values are incorrect alot. So, if I find a mistake, I fix it. Just like Subway's 6 inch Orchard Chicken Salad on 9 grain wheat bread with no cheese. The calories, were listed in the database as being 370 calories for a 6 inch sub. However, that is with cheese on italian bread according to the Subway nutrional website. If you remove the cheese calories (40 calories for 2 triangles of American Cheese) that makes it 330 for a 6 inch on italian bread, not 9 grain wheat. Then you have to add 10 calories for the 9 grain wheat which is 110 calories compared to 100 calories for italian. This makes the grand total 340 calories for a 6 inch Orchard Chicken Salad Sub on 9 Grain Wheat with no cheese. Keep in mind 340 calories does not include veggies, those are additonal calories, which can be found on the Subway website. However, 30 miscalculated calories can sometimes make all the difference between going over your daily caloric intake and having enough room to treat yourself to a small snack!

tsomo

bump!

TNH76

Agreed nothing more frustrating than selecting an item and having no nutritional data or worse, the wrong data. I LOVE the scanning function available on my droid phone though!

I have noticed that the scan function can be inaccurate as well. I recommend double checking.

lovetowrite73

Does anyone know... if someone changes the nutritional data for a food, is that change applied retroactively?

For example, let's say I ate a carrot and it said 5 calories, 1g carb, and logged that in my diary on Day 1.
Then on Day 2 someone changes the nutritional data for the particular "carrot" entry that I selected when I logged so that it is now 10 calories and 2 carbs (or whatever). Will my diary from Day 1 be changed automatically, or does it keep the original logged values?

No, it doesn't adjust past entries.

curleesam

Good post! tbh, I mainly only track my calories rather than anything else so probably don't notice that the carbs section or protein section etc has not been filled in. I have been coming across incorrect entries lately though so will start reporting those. It is also really difficult to see these/confirm these when you are using the Iphone app and not the website.

neonpink

This drives me insane too, i must edit 5/6 things a day, I like to track everything, especially sodium which is a big problem being in the uk, as most packages label it in grams not milligrams, and so alot of people enter say 0.7mg when it should be 700mg !!!!

please be careful people

starsnyc21

This is very true, I find myself correcting a lot of items I come across. It' amazes me how some of this incorrect items have no sodium or fat. Only calorie...WTH is that all about.

torregro

I like the data base for what it is and try to keep an eye on information that just seems "wrong" in my world. I've added entries and edited entries, but am also frustrated with entries like "medium banana".
As many have pointed out, it's not a very accurate term, especially in an international community.
Why don't we all weigh a banana and enter the information that way? I like to use my kitchen scale (well, really it's a postal scale) to weigh things that are difficult to measure into a cup. 'Cause we all know you can squash a LOT of watermelon into a cup if you don't mind a lot of liquid! LOL
Three cheers for WEIGHING produce!

clala82

Seriously. Can someone tell me the nutrition facts for a chicken thigh cooked in a crock pot with not oil eaten without the skin? I can't figure out which one is correct because they range from 103-293 calories. ???

yvonnej1

Have just corrected both items I tried to add for tomorrows lunch but what stops me from correcting more foods is that if you stop to edit the food whilst in the process of adding it to meal you can't then go on to add it from that screen, you are taken to the main food database so have to go back into diary, click add to meal and search for the food again so you can add the now corrected food. If I am missing something and there is a simple way around this pleeeeeaase let me know.

a_stronger_steph

Seriously. Can someone tell me the nutrition facts for a chicken thigh cooked in a crock pot with not oil eaten without the skin? I can't figure out which one is correct because they range from 103-293 calories. ???

Did you weigh the chicken thigh? (If not, that's ok, it should probably say how much the package weighed in total, divide that by the number of thighs to get an approximate answer). Then I would just find the MFP non-member-set entry for chicken thigh, raw (skinless & boneless? bone-in? Whichever you have), and enter that amount in grams or ounces or whatever your measurement is in. If you didn't cook it in oil, I don't see how the caloric value would differ much by cooking (but I could be VERY wrong about that, as I'm no dietician). If you cooked in broth or something else, just add that ingredient to your meal as well.

Becca_007

Have just corrected both items I tried to add for tomorrows lunch but what stops me from correcting more foods is that if you stop to edit the food whilst in the process of adding it to meal you can't then go on to add it from that screen, you are taken to the main food database so have to go back into diary, click add to meal and search for the food again so you can add the now corrected food. If I am missing something and there is a simple way around this pleeeeeaase let me know.

I thought that very same thing and kept going to the database time and time again frustrated with having to go the long route after editing. Then for whatever reason I clicked 'my foods' tab and " POOF!" there was my edited food!

So next time you edit a food you should be able to go back to that tab and find the item you made an adjustment to and simply click on it and it'll add it to the meal/snack you'd like to place it in!

Big time lightbulb went off for me and I felt like I'd just discovered something very magical. :laugh: :laugh: :blushing:
Give it a shot, you'll be in awe same as me.

Yes and for you all that already had this figured out, why the secret?:noway: :sad: :laugh:

ETA: Just to add I also do multiple edits while looking something up so it should work for you to find the original food in your 'my foods' section as that's how it's been working for me since the lightbulb went off.:blushing: :bigsmile: