Why don’t fats add up

bigmikedehaan
bigmikedehaan Posts: 2 Member
in Food and Nutrition
There was a discussion on this in 2016 but it didn’t seem to reach a conclusion, hope I didn’t miss another discussion on this. It’s my understanding that total fat should be the sum of saturated and unsaturated (poly and monounsaturated) fats. The total fat in the app never seems to match that sum. Can anyone help me understand this? Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,965 Member
    Main reason is probably that many food database entries aren't complete? I know for example that many food labels in Europe only specify total and saturated fat, do the other types will be empty in the database entry.
    The 'total' number in MFP isn't a mathematical sum of the other types, is just a number entered separately.

    Other possible reasons: simply wrong entries, and there could be small differences due to rounding as well.
  • paints5555
    paints5555 Posts: 1,233 Member
    Only saturated fat is required on the labels in the US so the other ones are only on there if a manufacturer wants to or makes a fat claim for the product. So mono and poly fats are missing on most labels even when they are present.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,148 Member
    Food labels are incomplete and approximate (allowed to be close but not precise by law). On top of that, the MFP database is crowd-sourced (entered by regular MFP users, not professionals), so even what's on the label may not end up in the database.

    It'll never add up exactly. Does it matter, for either health or weight loss? Probably not.
  • bigmikedehaan
    bigmikedehaan Posts: 2 Member
    Great, thanks. I’m limiting saturated fats, so as long as I’m accurate on that I’m good. Thank you both for clarifying!

Categories