Accuracy of the Nutritional Info?

Always double check, most are good est if you don't want to bother but no they are not all accurate

Most are pretty accurate. I run into problems when I don't know a specific brand of what I'm eating - like if I get something at work - and have to estimate what I'm eating. I've found that when I estimate, I'm usually waaaay off. It's best to have a good idea of what you're eating, and if you don't know, estimate high.

I double checked for the first few days and they all seemed accurate. You will see some in there that have people's name by them, that is their specific recipe

Welcome, I'ss send you a friend invite and will try and support as much as possible

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Most of them are pretty good but I have amended a few, I tend to check if possible but once I know which are accurate I use my "recent" food after that so I ensure I only use the ones I know to be accurate.

I always double check, and if I find a discrepancy I correct it and then confirm it, every little helps :happy:

7. FOOD DATABASE AND NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION

MyFitnessPal’s food database contains a combination of nutritional information entered directly by MyFitnessPal and nutritional information entered by MyFitnessPal members (“Food Database”). Any MyFitnessPal member can contribute nutritional information to the Food Database, as well as edit existing nutritional information. Please be advised that nutritional information found in MyFitnessPal’s Food Database has not been reviewed by persons with the expertise required to provide You with complete, accurate, or reliable information. MYFITNESSPAL DOES NOT (I) GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, OR USEFULNESS OF ANY NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION IN THE FOOD DATABASE; OR (II) ADOPT, ENDORSE OR ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY OR RELIABILITY OF ANY SUCH NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL MYFITNESSPAL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE RESULTING FROM YOUR RELIANCE ON NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION. You are solely responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information in the Food Database is accurate, complete and useful.

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^^^ This!

Please check to make sure everything is accurate, if anything, do it for your body. It will thank you later!

I notice many issues with raw ingredients, especially since I'm trying to watch carb intake. One quick check you can do to see if there's even a chance that the data is accurate is to add up the calories from fat, carbs and protein and see if it matches the total calories listed.

Take the amount of carbs (grams) minus insoluble fiber and the amount of protein (grams) and add them together. Multiply this number by 4. Multiply the amount of fat by 9 and add both sums.

(gs Carbs + gs Protein) x 4 (cal/gram) + (gs Fat) x 9 (cal/gram) ~= Total Calories.

I believe this is only accurate for nonalcoholic items. Though I rarely find detailed calorie information for beverages containing alcohol.

Good Example: Small Whole Weather Tortilla High Fiber/Low Carb (La Tortilla Factory)
Fat = 4g, Carb = 20g-14g, Protein = 10g.
(20g-14g+10g)x4 + 4g x 9 = 100. Matches!
This one is accurate if all the fiber is actually insoluble.

Bad Example: Steak Salad, Nothing But Noodles
Fat = 19g, Carb = 7g-2g, Protein = 11g.
(7g-2g+11g)x4 + 19g x 9 = 235. But nutrition guide on the site says 135 calories. Big Red Flag!!! Must be a typo, but we all should be aware that nutrition guides at restaurant sites aren't without error.

Also, the equation working out isn't necessarily accurate either. It just means that there is internal consistency. However, if the numbers don't add up you know there was something different going on.

I personally wish that MyFitnessPal had an internal checker. It wouldn't be too difficult to program this into the site when adding a new item. Making it equal out might be too restrictive (i.e. if there is something funny going on with the fiber), but some sort of warning would make people think twice before adding something that is blatantly inaccurate.

We cook a lot, so we often run into issues where the raw information is not helpful or there are too many different ones to choose from.