POTASSIUM levels incorrect on MFP

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rokq22
rokq22 Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
First off, I LOVE the MYFITNESSPAL phone app!!! I've lost about 8 pounds just watching my calories and imputing all I consume and also the cadio I do. (The calorie counting behind "The Twinkie Diet" and "Starbucks Diet" (and Subway) works!!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/11/08/twinkie.diet.professor/index.html

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-09-17/news/33907123_1_diet-starbucks-woman-claims

But I found a problem. I need more POTASSIUM! That because of an increase in muscle crams and research showed one of the problems could be low levels of potassium. (Among other things). I have been taking a multivitamin and recently added a calcium/magnesium supplement. (But I will NOT take a potassium supplement as they are NOT recommended). Which leaves better food choices obviously. (I love baked potatoes now and, what the heck, a banana here and there is an okay tasting food item too!)

But here's the thing, one of the reasons (besides the research) I started think of potassium is because at the end of the day MFP showed I consumed FAR TOO LITTLE potassium. But I just found out it is not ONLY my food choices but, rather, the program itself! Case in point. CHOCOLATE! I've learned it is high in potassium. And chocolate milk has much more potassium than regular milk. So I'm thinking OVALTINE again like when I was a kid. I just Googled "Ovaltine and Potassium" and came across this site:

http://www.aminoz.com.au/ovaltine-food-106.html

Now the amount shown there seems to be too high the problem I have is that when I input the same thing in MFP (the app) and add it to my diary it shows that I still consumed "0" grams of potassium! That's obviously incorrect!! -( Anyhow, I've only recently started looking at the potassium in MFP and found that, according to the app, I was consuming under 1000 (or far less!) grams daily something was wrong. I thought it was the food choices but it is not just that. Upon research I've found that even BEER (one example) has potassium but yet when I added beer to my diary it never added that I consumed potassium when it should have.

http://www.blurtit.com/q874132.html

In fact, testing it, I just did the following. I imputed both "Ovaltine and milk" and "Bud Light 12oz. glass". After inputing them both MFP still shows I've consumed "0" grams of potassium! =(

I haven't checked out all that is available from this site (or the app) but can the nutritional values of, say, potassium be hanged by users to more accurately reflect reality?

Just wondering.

Replies

  • drmerc
    drmerc Posts: 2,603 Member
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    Hmmmmmmmmm.........

    Yogurt and Bananas have potassium if you need more

    as for the rest... Cool story bro
  • Ge0rgiana
    Ge0rgiana Posts: 1,649 Member
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    Potassium labeling is not required. If a label doesn't have it, it can't be entered in the database. Potassium is really only a problem if you're off on medication that depletes your body of it or something like that.
  • Kenhabes
    Kenhabes Posts: 187 Member
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    Potassium isn't normally recorded on the USDA labels, which is why (I believe) a lot of the foods on here don't list potassium. When I need to add a food that doesn't contain the potassium, I search theUSDA food list, input the serving amount and edit the database listing here on MFP to include potassium. You're probably getting more than you realize.

    USDA food database: http://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/list
  • DPernet
    DPernet Posts: 481 Member
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    If you look at the labels on the food that you buy, very few of them list the potassium levels. You can't enter what you don't know.
  • sagj
    sagj Posts: 256 Member
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    Most nutrition fact labels do not list potassium so it will show a zero on here in that case regardless of if the food contains it. Also, food items on here are only as accurate as the person who enters them. If they skip putting it in, well, the program won't know and list it as a zero too.
  • rokq22
    rokq22 Posts: 2
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    Wow, thanks for the replies!! I had thought that if Potassium wasn't listed the product didn't contain any. DOH! In fact, I was jsut at Von's and didn't see any on the Ovaltine label and passed on it. But then I found this:

    http://www.epinions.com/review/Ovaltine_Rich_Chocolate_12_Oz_Can/content_472967908996?sb=1

    Note the part:

    "There is a lot of minerals and vitamins in here and if you already take a multi-vitamin or any other herbal supplements like wild yam for hot flashes, kava kava for insomnia, or even Burdock for cleansing--don’t drink more than a glass every two weeks using the recommended four tablespoons because you will get a ‘potassium’ overload. "

    So, apparently it DOES have lots of potassium just doesn't get a mention. I have got some Whey Protein powder which contains 380mg potassium (2 scoops) but that isn't much compared to Ovaltine, apparently. (No I don't have stock in the company).

    Anyhow, again, thanks for the replies!!
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
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    I've added potassium to every food I've used here for 3 months. You have to search through them to find it.
    If not, I add my own entry.
  • darkskypoet
    darkskypoet Posts: 14 Member
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    This is one of the many reasons I think MFP needs an 'MFP Verified' food marker. We dint need 16 entries for raw carrots, we need an authoritative one thats right, per gram. Same goes for most foods. Id volunteer to weed the db, we only need a few hundred peeps to make this way more accurate.

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