Nutrition errors

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sdpate48
sdpate48 Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
The more I use MyFitness Pal the more errors I find in nutrition content.

Example. A soft boiled egg was listed with 270 mg of cholesterol. Actually it's 186 according to Mayo Clinic.

One listing for dates shows no potassium. Another shows the proper amount.

The user adds in the database are not being reviewed by anyone apparently and there are errors.

Replies

  • kirkor
    kirkor Posts: 2,530 Member
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    I just use it for calories and macros, not vitamins and minerals.
  • melaniecheeks
    melaniecheeks Posts: 6,349 Member
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    There's going to be a range in size of eggs, they wont all have the same amont of cholesterol.

    But there is no-one reviwing any of the user added items. If you find an error and know the correct values, you can edit it yourself. But I have accepted that the database is always going to be less than 100% accurate, especially on the micros like vitamins.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
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    The more I use MyFitness Pal the more errors I find in nutrition content.

    Example. A soft boiled egg was listed with 270 mg of cholesterol. Actually it's 186 according to Mayo Clinic.

    One listing for dates shows no potassium. Another shows the proper amount.

    The user adds in the database are not being reviewed by anyone apparently and there are errors.

    Yep- there are errors.

    I once logged in some low fat peanuts! I wish these existed. This thread has helped.....

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1234699-logging-accurately-step-by-step-guide
  • SoDamnHungry
    SoDamnHungry Posts: 6,998 Member
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    Go by brand. Does your egg packaging have nutrition information on it?
  • MissHolidayGolightly
    MissHolidayGolightly Posts: 857 Member
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    Potassium isn't required to be listed on the food label which would explain why it's missing from some entries.

    The food in the database is mostly inputted and maintained by the user community here. You can see how many confirmations an entry has--the entires with many are well-vetted. If you notice an error, you can click the no button and edit it.

    Entries without an asterisk are either put in my MFP (basic items like fruit and vegetables based with different measurements) or recipes/foods you entered.

    You have to do a little extra work to verify what you put in your diary but it's not much effort considering this is a free service.
  • ksy1969
    ksy1969 Posts: 700 Member
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    Yep, there are errors. That is why there is an option for user to correct entries or confirm the data is correct. This is a challenge with MFP, but this is also what makes it great. I love the fact that just about everything is in there. If I have time I may check the accuracy, but if I don't have the time I just go with it. Besides, nothing is 100% accurate. Nutrition labels do not have to be 100% accurate. They are allowed by the FDA to have up to a 20% discrepancy. It is all about balance. :happy:
  • folgers86
    folgers86 Posts: 84 Member
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    Haha. I corrected a dominos pizza entry yesterday. It said it had 0 sugar XD
  • MissHolidayGolightly
    MissHolidayGolightly Posts: 857 Member
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    Haha. I corrected a dominos pizza entry yesterday. It said it had 0 sugar XD

    I just did the same with a chocolate bar that had no sugar listed. How cute.

    I always check sodium for guesstimating my Chinese take-out entries. A lot of them say no sodium, hah!
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    The user adds in the database are not being reviewed by anyone apparently and there are errors.

    Yes, that's why you should be very suspicious of the user adds.

    So far the vast majority of the MFP-supplied ones (no asterisk) that I've checked out are good.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    There's going to be a range in size of eggs, they wont all have the same amont of cholesterol.

    This too. Since I usually make omelets, I weigh my eggs routinely. I used two of the larger ones from my carton on Sunday morning and they were 120 grams. Today I used two smaller ones and they were 94 grams total. Not a huge calorie difference, and one that for me would even out, but it certainly shows that you can't really say that a particular egg has a particular amount of cholesterol.

    (I don't track cholesterol, so don't know what the entries had for it. I use the USDA information in the database, which I've checked.)
  • ichoosethehealthylife
    ichoosethehealthylife Posts: 2
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    Try coming from New Zealand, trying to find the product is hard enough and then most of the time it's wrong.
  • AmigaMaria001
    AmigaMaria001 Posts: 489 Member
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    Since I cook most all my food from scratch, I look up every single ingredient online (Not through MFP) then add that food to MFP with my name in front so that the next time I make it I can be sure the calories are exact.
    With that said, I have found MFP to be fairly accurate on most things that I eat - but I do double check when I have the time or if they seem suspicious!

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  • AbsolutelyAnnie
    AbsolutelyAnnie Posts: 2,695 Member
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    Also check for Confirmations. After you select an item so you can choose your serving size, look under the bold red heading to see "(member submitted, XXX confirmations)". The more confirmations an item has the more likely it is correct.

    Also, many generic items are also submitted by members and but are not asterisked.
  • WalkingAlong
    WalkingAlong Posts: 4,926 Member
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    I almost used a database entry for 'Knorr hollandaise sauce, prepared' this morning. It said 10 calories for 2T. It's really more like 100. Maybe instead of butter and milk, they use water and air, I don't know. :happy:
  • Jetta_C
    Jetta_C Posts: 58
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    I find Cron-o-meter much better for tracking micro-nutrients--
  • Go_Mizzou99
    Go_Mizzou99 Posts: 2,628 Member
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    The more I use MyFitness Pal the more errors I find in nutrition content.

    Example. A soft boiled egg was listed with 270 mg of cholesterol. Actually it's 186 according to Mayo Clinic.

    One listing for dates shows no potassium. Another shows the proper amount.

    The user adds in the database are not being reviewed by anyone apparently and there are errors.

    I use calorie king and the USDA website to double-check.
  • patd1102
    patd1102 Posts: 1 Member
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    It is so frustrating. I use MyFitnessPal for both calories and nutrition. I find the majority of the problem comes from the barcode which means you can’t even trust what you scan in. I originally noticed it when I was checking my potassium levels. I entered beans into a recipe and it came up zero. I knew beans were higher than bananas so I looked at the label and it just had a - as the value. I emailed the company and asked about it. Their response was. “We don’t track that.” The new labeling guidelines have it as a requirement but the industry has been able to stall implementation. If you see a label where the calories are in a large font it has the updated label format. For the time being you need to find out what the correct nutrition number is and search for an entry that has it. The labeling issue is a widespread problem. Using a random entry this morning my eggs had zero cholesterol. I use the USDA website for double checking.
  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    patd1102 wrote: »
    It is so frustrating. I use MyFitnessPal for both calories and nutrition. I find the majority of the problem comes from the barcode which means you can’t even trust what you scan in.

    Scanning the bar code just pulls up the corresponding user entered data. So, like all other entries you have to double check them.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
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    I scanned the bar code of my pre-workout the other day and it came back as celery. :laugh:
  • mph323
    mph323 Posts: 3,565 Member
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    quiksylver296 wrote: »
    I scanned the bar code of my pre-workout the other day and it came back as celery. :laugh:

    Haha, that's the best one yet! I find it's the barcodes that are off most, maybe because when you pull up something like [brand-name][food] you usually get more than one entry to choose from so you can easily pick out one that's correct. You're stuck with the specific information linked to the barcode, so if it's wrong you don't get to select another entry.

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