Calcium

ninamullenax
ninamullenax Posts: 1 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I am tracking my calcium since my blood calcium is too high. I put in a cereal that says a cup is 150 calories and calcium is 10% but when I check the nutrients it is only saying 11 mg. Is this right. I really need to be tracking the correct amounts !

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,841 Member
    The food database is crowdsourced, you need to look carefully to use a correct entry (check with the label), correct an existing one or create a new one. Micro nutrients are particularly tricky because MFP shows percentage of RDA, not mg (so look closely at the label and the unit used).
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    ninamullenax wrote: »
    I am tracking my calcium since my blood calcium is too high. I put in a cereal that says a cup is 150 calories and calcium is 10% but when I check the nutrients it is only saying 11 mg. Is this right. I really need to be tracking the correct amounts !

    I have noticed that some people take the raw mg shown on the label and plug those in the database entry when they create it. 11 mg is about 1% of the U.S. RDA for calcium.
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    If you require the ability to correctly track micronutrients for medical reasons, MFP isn't the tool to do that.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,486 Member
    You may find this https://cronometer.com will track your nutrients better than MFP.

    MFP concentrates on calories and basic nutrition more than Chronometer which says it tracks up to 84 nutrients and other compounds. (No experience with it)

    Cheers, h.
  • sollyn23l2
    sollyn23l2 Posts: 1,755 Member
    Yep. Cronometer is the app to go to for nutrient tracking.
  • lesdarts180
    lesdarts180 Posts: 3,067 Member
    Tracking calcium is very difficult - I have osteoporosis so the opposite problem to you, I have to try to at least reach the full 100% RDA every day. I find the database entries need amending nearly every time, so my "My Foods" list is full of yogurts, cheeses, breakfast cereal, milk (and milk substitutes such as soya milk). The problem is made worse by the fact that many foods that you know contain calcium don't include it on the label. Milk, cheese, yogurt, all kinds of dairy and milk-based products have no mention of it on the label. This is because it not a mandatory part of the labelling system - at least not over here in Europe.
    I use a particular brand of cheddar in my diary when I eat a cheese that doesn't have the calcium listed. Similarly with yogurt, if I can't have my usual brand.

    Your problem is more difficult than mine as I have no upper limit on my consumption so it doesn't matter if a food has calcium that isn't labelled.

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