iron DV% in mg.?

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jhen47
jhen47 Posts: 15 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Iron is measured only in DV%. I would like to know how many mg. are considered 100%?

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  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
    edited September 2015
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    18, but it's really more like 10 for men, and most for pregnant/menstruating women, but 18 is not likely to be harmful, so it's just listed at 18.

    around 40 is considered to be the upper limit of not likely to be harmful, though many doctors will prescribe more in certain situations.
  • CyberTone
    CyberTone Posts: 7,337 Member
    edited September 2015
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    The recommendation varies slightly for other countries' government agencies, but the DRI (Daily Reference Intake) found on US Nutrition Facts labels are based on a 2000 daily caloric intake, which for iron is 18mg.
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    Reference:
    http://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm064928.htm
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
    edited September 2015
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    18 is the standard number, but it will vary based on your age, sex and type of diet...even without getting into personal, medical issues.
  • jhen47
    jhen47 Posts: 15 Member
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    I know what is recommended. I want to verify how many mg. MyFitnessPal has set as 100%.
  • jhen47
    jhen47 Posts: 15 Member
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    I prefer they would just list the mg. I'm consuming in food instead of a percentage.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    jhen47 wrote: »
    I prefer they would just list the mg. I'm consuming in food instead of a percentage.

    The thing with iron is that you cannot just count up what the food contains because some of the iron (especially in veggies) isn't iron you can use. So, while it's in the food, it's not doing you any good. This is one of the reasons it really depends on what you're eating and will vary from person to person.

    You can go with 18, but next time you have a check up, ask the doctor what the right number is for you.

  • _John_
    _John_ Posts: 8,642 Member
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    Kalikel wrote: »
    jhen47 wrote: »
    I prefer they would just list the mg. I'm consuming in food instead of a percentage.

    The thing with iron is that you cannot just count up what the food contains because some of the iron (especially in veggies) isn't iron you can use. So, while it's in the food, it's not doing you any good. This is one of the reasons it really depends on what you're eating and will vary from person to person.

    You can go with 18, but next time you have a check up, ask the doctor what the right number is for you.

    accounting for the iron sources and % actually available is why it is "listed" as 18mg to begin with. Technically the "18" takes into account poorly absorbed iron sources.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    jhen47 wrote: »
    I know what is recommended. I want to verify how many mg. MyFitnessPal has set as 100%.

    MFP hasn't "set" anything as 100%. It's using the values from nutrition labels, which reflect values set by the FDA (in the U.S.). In the U.S. 100% = 18 mg.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    Menstruating women need 18 mgs. Most others are fine at 10 mgs.
  • jhen47
    jhen47 Posts: 15 Member
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    Let me state it differently. When I look at "nutrition", Iron, from the foods ive eaten, is stated as a part of 100%. MFP dosen't tell us how many mg. is 100%. From some of your answers I'm assuming it is 18mg. On days I fall short, I want to supplement with iron. But oñly on the days I come up significantly short.
  • Kdp2015
    Kdp2015 Posts: 519 Member
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    jhen47 wrote: »
    Let me state it differently. When I look at "nutrition", Iron, from the foods ive eaten, is stated as a part of 100%. MFP dosen't tell us how many mg. is 100%. From some of your answers I'm assuming it is 18mg. On days I fall short, I want to supplement with iron. But oñly on the days I come up significantly short.
    A lot of the listings don’t include iron so you will probably seem short when you are not.
    Has a doctor advised that you need extra iron?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
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    carpediem12811 wrote: »
    I've tried talking sense into MFP technical support. I really wish the MFP staff would stop with their ridiculously convoluted copy and paste responses when people like me write in with issues around % DV on customized nutritional goals. I'm a bariatric surgery patient and my % DV is different from someone who hasn't had surgery. My nutritionist requires me to count milligrams and I'd rather not have to make the conversion for 8 different vitamins and minerals...

    WHY DONT THEY JUST OFFER THE OPTION OF TRACKING NUTRIENTS LIKE IRON, CALCIUM, VITAMINS USING MILLIGRAMS AND BE DONE WITH IT?

    I pay $50/year for this app and if MFP can't make this simple change instead of responding with the same cockamamie answer to all of us, I hardly think I'm getting my money's worth.

    End of rant. 🙃

    @Alex thought you might like to weigh in ^.
  • Alex
    Alex Posts: 10,145 MFP Staff
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    carpediem12811 wrote: »
    I've tried talking sense into MFP technical support. I really wish the MFP staff would stop with their ridiculously convoluted copy and paste responses when people like me write in with issues around % DV on customized nutritional goals. I'm a bariatric surgery patient and my % DV is different from someone who hasn't had surgery. My nutritionist requires me to count milligrams and I'd rather not have to make the conversion for 8 different vitamins and minerals...

    WHY DONT THEY JUST OFFER THE OPTION OF TRACKING NUTRIENTS LIKE IRON, CALCIUM, VITAMINS USING MILLIGRAMS AND BE DONE WITH IT?

    I pay $50/year for this app and if MFP can't make this simple change instead of responding with the same cockamamie answer to all of us, I hardly think I'm getting my money's worth.

    End of rant. 🙃

    Hi @carpediem12811 Thanks for reaching out via forum post as well. It sounds like you got an auto-reply while you were waiting for someone from our team to reply to your feedback, apologies if that was entirely not useful.

    We hear your suggestion, you want to be able to track your iron an other nutrients by gram instead of % like you can with carbs, fat, and protein.

    I don't know where this request is on the roadmap, I know we are actively working to add updated nutritional tracking options, like Vitamin D and added sugars, but don't have updates on your request.

    Again we appreciate the feedback, if you would like to cancel your premium membership please reach back out to our support team for assistance.
  • caralynnsmith
    caralynnsmith Posts: 1 Member
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    @Alex Please keep us updated, as I would also like to track iron by mg
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    carpediem12811 wrote: »
    I've tried talking sense into MFP technical support. I really wish the MFP staff would stop with their ridiculously convoluted copy and paste responses when people like me write in with issues around % DV on customized nutritional goals. I'm a bariatric surgery patient and my % DV is different from someone who hasn't had surgery. My nutritionist requires me to count milligrams and I'd rather not have to make the conversion for 8 different vitamins and minerals...

    WHY DONT THEY JUST OFFER THE OPTION OF TRACKING NUTRIENTS LIKE IRON, CALCIUM, VITAMINS USING MILLIGRAMS AND BE DONE WITH IT?

    I pay $50/year for this app and if MFP can't make this simple change instead of responding with the same cockamamie answer to all of us, I hardly think I'm getting my money's worth.

    End of rant. 🙃

    If you figure out ONE TIME what percentage of 18 mg the recommendation that your medical team has made is, and edit your goals on MFP to equal that percentage, you'll be able to see at a glance in your diary how you are doing in relation to your individual goal. E.g., let's say your medical team said you should have 9 mg of iron/day. Edit your MFP settings so your iron goal is 50% instead of 100%. Bang. You're done.

    Alternatively, you could create all your own food database entries, put in the actual mg instead of % for micronutrients, and just know that even though your food diary will say %, it's actually mg.

    When MFP was created, U.S. food labels were only required to show % for micronutrients, so it wouldn't have made sense to have fields in the food records that users wouldn't be able to get the information to provide when they created a new food. If the labels give the %, and the MFP food records said mg, what you would end up with is a bunch of food records that plugged the % value into the field for mg. Which is what we're seeing now that U.S. food labels are starting to show both % and mg.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,902 Member
    edited March 2022
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    I realize this thread was started in 2015 and am answering for others who are interested in iron values.

    I'm anemic. More times than not, the iron values for USER-created entries are wrong - they put in mg instead of %, they put in nothing, or they are just plain wrong.

    I've never had an issue with micros for ADMIN-created entries. These have their own interesting set of issues, like 0 calories for a cup of pecans, or giving values for 100 g of food when the serving size was 1 g. These problems are very easy to spot, however.

    Unfortunately, the green check marks in the MFP database are used for both USER-created entries and ADMIN-created entries that MFP pulled from the USDA database. A green check mark for USER-created entries just means enough people have upvoted the entry - it is not necessarily correct.

    To find ADMIN entries for whole foods, I get the syntax from the USDA database and paste that into MFP. All ADMIN entries from the USDA will have weights as an option BUT there is a glitch whereby sometimes 1g is the option but the values are actually for 100g. This is pretty easy to spot though, as when added the calories are 100x more than is reasonable.

    https://fdc.nal.usda.gov

    Use the “SR Legacy” tab - that seems to be what MFP used to pull in entries.

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