Carbohydrates shown in MFP are not correct some times!

westevenssr
westevenssr Posts: 3
in Getting Started
I just spent two hours with my nutritionist, and while she likes MFP, one thing she was showing me was the fact that some of the foods listed were fine with calories, but the carbohydrates were wrong. The one item I can remember was the cranberry sauce I had for Thanksgiving. It indicated 16 grams of sugar, but no carbohydrates. She is recommending your program to most of her patients, but has to warn them about the bad numbers in carbohydrates as it impacts the amount of insulin her patients should take. I ran into a low of 44 mg/dl which is dangerous for any one, and especially for some one my age. This low was the result of wrong numbers in your program. Can some one resolve this problem?

Replies

  • NarwhalofNight
    NarwhalofNight Posts: 75 Member
    westevenssr wrote: »
    I just spent two hours with my nutritionist, and while she likes MFP, one thing she was showing me was the fact that some of the foods listed were fine with calories, but the carbohydrates were wrong. The one item I can remember was the cranberry sauce I had for Thanksgiving. It indicated 16 grams of sugar, but no carbohydrates. She is recommending your program to most of her patients, but has to warn them about the bad numbers in carbohydrates as it impacts the amount of insulin her patients should take. I ran into a low of 44 mg/dl which is dangerous for any one, and especially for some one my age. This low was the result of wrong numbers in your program. Can some one resolve this problem?

    Yeah, updates from MFP team wouldn't be bad, :)
  • NarwhalofNight
    NarwhalofNight Posts: 75 Member
    emily_stew wrote: »
    Unfortunately since the food database is user-generated, there are a lot of entries with incorrect data. It's really annoying and potentially dangerous, I agree.
    Your best work around this is to, when you're searching for a food to log, look for the entries without asterisks. The non-asterisk entries have been put there by MFP staff and are verified to have correct data.
    Best of luck!

    PS- from what I understand, there have been promises to clean up the food database, but honestly I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

    What about bar code scanning? Is that generated by the users?
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
    The reason the MFP food database is so large is because members can add entries into the database. There's no possible way that MFP can double check all of these entries, and they're not going eliminate the database and populate it themselves, that's just way too much work. If it's that important to you, double check all database entries before you enter them in your diary, and whenever you can, scan the barcode of the food you eat.
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
    edited December 2014
    Entries in the database without asterisks are entered by the MFP team and are generally accurate. Entries in the database with asterisks are user-created and may or may not be accurate. Since it's a free site, it's kind of a use-at-your-own-risk thing, and it takes a little while to learn the tips and tricks involved with using the database. Generally:

    1. Use entries without an asterisk if possible. If not...
    2. Use entries that have a brand name so you can verify the information with the package
    3. Use entries that have been verified by other users
    4. Use entries that include "USDA" at the end, which shows that the person who created the entry used the USDA database for the information (those are more likely to be accurate).

    Never:

    1. Use entries that say Generic
    2. Use entries that say Homemade or include someone's name in the title (unless you created the entry yourself using the recipe builder)

    As you learn more and more about nutrition, you will get much better at spotting inaccurate entries. For now, take a critical look at your entries. If something has sugar or tastes sweet, it has carbohydrates. (All fruits and vegetables, grains, most dairy except for maybe butter, etc., have some carbohydrates). Since carbs are a big concern for you, make sure you're double-checking each entry to make sure it has information for the carbs. If in doubt, click on several entries and see what the other entries say. Never pick the outlier -- if an entry is way low or high in calories/carbs/whatever when compared to some others, it's probably wrong.
  • KameHameHaaaa
    KameHameHaaaa Posts: 837 Member
    As with everything, double check the numbers before using the entry. You wouldn't "wing it" and not look at a nutrition label on a product, don't do the same on the website. It might seem like a hassle but it takes two seconds.
  • westevenssr
    westevenssr Posts: 3
    I have been scanning items in, and the information on the bar code items has been correct so far. Thanks for all the above comments. I have learned a lot, and have modified several entries as a result of the above comments.
  • zipa78
    zipa78 Posts: 354 Member
    Sugar = carbohydrates, and for all intents and purposes you can pretty much assume the opposite to be true as well.

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