food database

LKRicegirl

If the food in the database was entered by myfitnesspal users, how do we know they are the correct calorie count?

AReasor

You double check. Most are pretty accurate. The only time I run into trouble is when I am too lazy to put in a recipe and try to use someone else's from the database.

A lot of people use the app and scan the food they are eating.

Pebble321

You don't know if they are correct, the user might have made a mistake - I've found things that have the wrong serving size so the calories are off, or ones where people clearly don't know the difference between a calorie and a kilojoule and have enter kj instead of cals. And others that are just so far off that they must be a typo.
Also be aware that there are MFP users from all over the world so something I enter for an Australian food may be made to a different recipe to something in the US, even if they have the same name. That doesn't make it wrong, just different.

It's the down side to the fantastically huge and incredibly useful MFP database - you need to keep an eye out for entries that look too good to be true - they quite probably are!

airangel59

Unfortunately you don't. I check everything...I'll Google the product to check nutrition stats. Some entries are incomplete, just calories and a few other stats. Others have incorrect carbs or incorrect net carbs. I don't use anyone's homemade recipes since no clue what brands/products they used.

Pebble321

Another suggestion for you - look for entries with no * in front.
These have been entered by MFP based on a standard database (USDA maybe?) and they are most likely to be accurate.
Anything with a * in front has been entered by a user so it's buyer-beware!