Added sugars

kristapenland
kristapenland Posts: 1 Member
edited October 2018 in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone know if MyFitnessPal will be following the new dietary guidelines and show natural sugars vs. add sugars for logging? I think this would be helpful.

Replies

  • ccrdragon
    ccrdragon Posts: 3,374 Member
    Nope - the mandated label information for food packaging does not come into effect until sometime next year and until then, it's neither reasonable nor practical to try and include the information.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I'm going to keep my expectations low on that. MFP hasn't been very update heavy. If it does eventually become a feature, it'll be a premium feature. Plus, manufacturers must make the transition by 1/31/2020, which probably means you won't be seeing much until then.
  • Bentforkx
    Bentforkx Posts: 69 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    Plus the database would have to be populated with these items by users, so that could take awhile

    Haven't been overly impressed with the accuracy of a lot of the database entries as of late, many of the "confirmed" ones don't seem to match up to nutrition labels as well.
    :/
  • DoubleUbea
    DoubleUbea Posts: 1,115 Member
    9u88wauu5pa1.png
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Bentforkx wrote: »

    Haven't been overly impressed with the accuracy of a lot of the database entries as of late, many of the "confirmed" ones don't seem to match up to nutrition labels as well.
    :/

    This is because "confirmed" just means that it has been confirmed by a certain number of our fellow users.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Bentforkx wrote: »

    Haven't been overly impressed with the accuracy of a lot of the database entries as of late, many of the "confirmed" ones don't seem to match up to nutrition labels as well.
    :/

    This is because "confirmed" just means that it has been confirmed by a certain number of our fellow users.

    Also, product formulations change over time (some things I eat have changed labeling since I started eating them); and the same-named product can have a different formulation in different countries.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    kristapenland wrote: »
    Does anyone know if MyFitnessPal will be following the new dietary guidelines and show natural sugars vs. add sugars for logging? I think this would be helpful.

    In what way would this be helpful? I doubt they add it. I don't even bother showing sugar at all.
  • Millicent3015
    Millicent3015 Posts: 374 Member
    I don't eat a lot of items with added sugars, so I will sometimes note the amount in the individual added sugar things I do eat, like cake, ice cream, chocolate etc, and then convert them into teaspoons. I try to stay within the UK limit of about 8 teaspoons of added sugars a day. MFP's totals are misleading and I'm sure they cause some people to worry about their sugar intake, so it would be useful to have separate categories if only to stop people fretting needlessly.
  • seska422
    seska422 Posts: 3,217 Member
    edited October 2018
    kristapenland wrote: »
    Does anyone know if MyFitnessPal will be following the new dietary guidelines and show natural sugars vs. add sugars for logging? I think this would be helpful.
    The new Nutrition Facts won't show natural vs. processed, just if sugar (natural or processed) has been added or is intrinsic.

    The implementation of "added sugars" will be pretty useless anyway. The same item (for example, honey) will count as an added sugar in the Nutrition Facts when it's one of the ingredients but won't count as an added sugar in a container by itself.

    Ocean Spray made an effort to have the "added sugar" designation waived for craisins since grapes have more natural sugar than cranberries and they felt that they should get a pass to sweeten up to the same level without labeling. I can't find if there's been a final decision on that yet.
  • Kalex1975
    Kalex1975 Posts: 427 Member
    DoubleUbea wrote: »
    9u88wauu5pa1.png

    Yeah, noticed this as well, happened recently... Vitamin D was also added.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    RelCanonical wrote: »
    I'm going to keep my expectations low on that. MFP hasn't been very update heavy. If it does eventually become a feature, it'll be a premium feature. Plus, manufacturers must make the transition by 1/31/2020, which probably means you won't be seeing much until then.

    Plus the database would have to be populated with these items by users, so that could take awhile

    Plus the database code would have to be rewritten to create fields for added and natural sugars in each record (i.e., food entry), and all the pages that reference the database entries to display nutritional information would similarly have to have their code updated. I'm not holding my breath for that to happen. (Of course, I don't see the utility in tracking natural v. added sugars, anyway, so I don't have any incentive to hold my breath. :smile: )
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    I am personally astonished at how quickly I lost my sugar cravings once I stopped adding sugar to my food, and, consciously selecting prepared foods with no added sugars. Theses days, a dried apricot or date seems so sweet my teeth shake (virtually) when I have some.

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