Little Annoyed at Inaccurate Nutritional Info in the Databas

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  • healthybabs
    healthybabs Posts: 531 Member
    Cross referencing is easy enough. If something is very wrong you can correct it, doesn't take two minutes and it means other people won't make the mistake. Sometimes recipes change (obv not the case with corn!) and an item may change in nutrition. I think it is good that it is populated by users, after all it would be impossible for the site owners to include every food in the world in there! I used to do weight watchers online and there was a ton of food they didn't have the points for so you had to work it out yourself. Considering this site is free I don't think you have a great deal of room to complain about it.
    Great, I didn't realize you could change someone elses entry. I will certainly do that if grossly incorrect to do my part to keep the DB as clean as possible. Hey, wonder if you can delete duplicate entries? Will have to check that out. I guess if we all do our part, it will gradually get better.
  • kardeamad
    kardeamad Posts: 43

    So if I'm using an American recipe that says a cup of flour.....?
    Depends on the flour but generally a cup of plain flour is around 125g.

    Lots of conversion sites if you google them - or you could do what I did years ago and buy some US cups :smile:
  • hellen72
    hellen72 Posts: 144 Member
    Be careful with the cup translation as a cup of flour will weigh different to a cup of marshmallows so you can't say a cup is a certain weight,
    I try to find something in grams or just add it myself in g.
  • mokeymokey
    mokeymokey Posts: 11
    I *sorta* agree with the OP, but it might be because I’m in the UK, where we don’t use “cups” to measure.

    I do wish I could edit to add details, to show 1oz or 100g etc of an item where a “cup” has been used– I’m sure that alone would save a lot of duplicates. It may be because I don’t understand the “cup” measurement – I’ve been told that a cup is equal to “about 8oz” ?

    I was searching for Greek yoghurt on the database today and came across “a serving of 1 small pot” – a small pot to one person might be huge to another!

    However, I love this site – it makes me aware of the portion size I should be eating, more than anything else.

    I'm in the UK too and you can pick up cup measuring spoons for a few £s is larger supermarkets.
    A cup is 250ml, half cup 125ml and so on. I get confused when measuring things like berries in cups as there is lots of air in-between. I do find lots of the values in the database have grams an option so it's not too bad.
  • westindiangal
    westindiangal Posts: 4 Member
    When I come across duplicates, I check the entry with the most confirmations. If I come across an entry without confirmations, I then go to another source for validation.
  • servilia
    servilia Posts: 3,453 Member
    It annoys me too so I find myself double checking and correcting when it's wrong. Yesterday I double checked using the US National Database (not sure of the exact name) for my vegetables. I also find that even if the calories are right, sometimes people don't enter the nutrients. I checked my potassium intake in Reports and was shocked to see I was under 1g a day! No wonder, the entry for the milk I drink didn't include potassium!!
  • mazza2marilyn
    mazza2marilyn Posts: 145
    I *sorta* agree with the OP, but it might be because I’m in the UK, where we don’t use “cups” to measure.

    I do wish I could edit to add details, to show 1oz or 100g etc of an item where a “cup” has been used– I’m sure that alone would save a lot of duplicates. It may be because I don’t understand the “cup” measurement – I’ve been told that a cup is equal to “about 8oz” ?

    I was searching for Greek yoghurt on the database today and came across “a serving of 1 small pot” – a small pot to one person might be huge to another!

    However, I love this site – it makes me aware of the portion size I should be eating, more than anything else.
    [/quote]
  • mazza2marilyn
    mazza2marilyn Posts: 145
    i live in england too.
    i bought a cup in tescos with all the american cup sizes on. very handy
  • Blueberry09
    Blueberry09 Posts: 821 Member
    I get confused when measuring things like berries in cups as there is lots of air in-between. I do find lots of the values in the database have grams an option so it's not too bad.

    I usually fill a 'cup' with bigger berries and fill the space with extra blueberries. I count them each as 1/2 cup as I'm getting a full cup of berries. Whether that's the right way to do it, I have no idea. But that's what I do.
  • SallieBeige
    SallieBeige Posts: 341 Member
    I guess this all explains the best and the worst of user-built data bases.
    (If users could not add, then the data base would be MUUUCH smaller and we would each be having to work much harder to log our daily intake)

    I also double check if logic tells me it is not right. And if I find a mistake or missing nutrients I do edit - so it is easier for the next person. I have an iron problem so I often check to add iron if necessary. It is interesting to note that some people only add calories ... I guess that is their focus.

    If we all edit to improve, then I guess we will all be making it better for each other.

    I agree it would be nice to delete the duplicates ... but then again if we could all do that might we be deleting entries that someone else finds useful..... hmm, as I said when I started, the best and worst of user-built data bases in one!
  • laurelei09
    laurelei09 Posts: 32 Member
    Ditto on the people who stop and correct entries. If I find something out of date or incorrect, I just take the time to fix it. I figure that benefits everyone.
  • beccyleigh
    beccyleigh Posts: 847 Member
    A good solution would be to have a verification process. So when someone adds a food to the database they have to give a link to the nutritional information & it can be verified before being approved. I know the mods probably wouldn't have time to do this themselves but a few trusted long term members might be roped in to help with it?
  • bhagavatilad1
    bhagavatilad1 Posts: 277
    I had the same problem. I found that most of them are entered correctly but for just a few you may want to check calories for big ticket foods just to be sure. P.S I love MFP.

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