inconsistencies in nutritional info in data base

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coolclimates
coolclimates Posts: 29
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone else run into this problem sometimes: there are multiple seemingly identical listings for certain foods but some have different nutritional information (such as amount of calories) than others (yet the serving size is exactly the same)? I know that different brands of the same food can have different calories counts and such. But take for instance, watermelon. A watermelon is a watermelon right? Well one source said that a 1 cup serving had 75 calories and another source said a 1 cup serving had 40. So which source am I supposed to believe? Similar thing with Aldis Sea Queen Medium Cooked Shrimp: one source said 400 calories per bag (which is incorrect) and another said 270 calories per bag (which is correct). The only reason I know that the second source is correct is because it matches with the nutritional info on the back of the bag.
So unless you look up the calories and nutritional info for certain foods in a completely different source all together or know it by heart, how do you know which of the seemingly identical listings to trust?

Replies

  • Jladd42
    Jladd42 Posts: 23 Member
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    Bump

    I've been wondering this too!
  • chachadiva150
    chachadiva150 Posts: 482 Member
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    Look at the packaging or check alternate sources. Then pick the closest in the database. Calorie counting will always be a few calories off.
  • adietron
    adietron Posts: 155
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    This is a serious pet peeve of mine.

    I find myself referencing this site on an almost-daily basis to double check nutritional info... It is a pretty exhaustive list of food, and it's very accurate:

    http://nutritiondata.self.com/

    I RARELY trust anything in the database anymore, unless it has numerous confirmations. I also take the time to correct/edit foods when they are wrong. IMHO, this is a community database, so its up to us to maintain it's integrity and fix things when they are wrong!

    I've also switched to using the barcode scanner in the iPhone app more often, even when I know the food exists in the database. It's been wrong on occasion, but I tend to trust it more than other people's entries.
  • Toddrific
    Toddrific Posts: 1,114 Member
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    On the different items you can see Verified by X number of members, higher number=more likely to be true.
  • mlang1955
    mlang1955 Posts: 55 Member
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    Foods are packaged differently between the US and other countries. A MFP friend of mine had a Weight Watchers dessert in his diary and I checked a website to learn about the fat in this item as he was not tracking fat. Thought I might pick some up at the grocery store next time since the calorie count was so low. During this investigation, I noticed that his calorie count was lower than the Weight Watchers web site here in the US. Thus, I informed him of what I believe was a database error... provided him the website and all. Well, he came back with a website from the UK that showed the item package with 2 cookies (same as the US), however, the calorie count was lower. So either the ingredients are different or the cookies are slightly smaller in the UK.
  • coolclimates
    coolclimates Posts: 29
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    thanks for the tips. I still find this to be a really frustrating problem, though. I wish someone could go through the various foods and delete the ones that aren't correct. Maybe they need to hire someone to do just that!
  • CollisionofNova
    CollisionofNova Posts: 98
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    thanks for the tips. I still find this to be a really frustrating problem, though. I wish someone could go through the various foods and delete the ones that aren't correct. Maybe they need to hire someone to do just that!

    The issue is that they might not be incorrect. I have two bags of frozen fruit in my freezer. They are the same brand, the same company, the same type, but they changed the proportions of the fruit. My older bag has 40 calories more than my newer bag for the same portion size.
    Plus, as someone already mentioned, there are the differences between countries for the same brands.

    I look at it this way: I'll search for the product I want. If it's there, I'll use it. If I'm concerned by the info, I may double check it against what I have. A few extra calories back or forth isn't going to kill me and I'd prefer not to spend all my time fiddling with numbers.
  • gwenny61
    gwenny61 Posts: 1 Member
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    I try first to scan the food in using the mobile app. If I can't do that, then I will do the search and pick the food with the most confirmations. I also try to verify and confirm as many foods as possible, since this is a community database, the more people who verify foods, the more accurate selections we will have.
  • WittneeT29
    WittneeT29 Posts: 47 Member
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    You can also check out www.calorieking.com. I usually compare entries to what it says before entering my numbers!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    One tip I have is if you don't have the packaging - like you're at a restaurant for example - and you're having a chicken sandwich for example. If there are 3 chicken sandwiches listed and one is 300 calories, one is 400 and one is 500 - I pick the middle one. I figure half the time I'll be over, 1/2 under and in the end it will all even out. Or to be extra safe pick the highest cal one if it bothers you that you might guess under.
  • Jbadiam
    Jbadiam Posts: 57 Member
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    LIKE
  • coolclimates
    coolclimates Posts: 29
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    all good suggestions, thanks!
  • keengkong
    keengkong Posts: 83 Member
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    Unfortunately, the information is not always accurate. That is a disadvantage of having a site with user entered nutritional information. However, user entered nutritional information is essential to having a large database. Sometimes I double-check information; sometimes I don't.
  • Kalynx
    Kalynx Posts: 707 Member
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    This is a serious pet peeve of mine.

    I find myself referencing this site on an almost-daily basis to double check nutritional info... It is a pretty exhaustive list of food, and it's very accurate:

    http://nutritiondata.self.com/

    this!! I use nutritiondata.self.com all the time - especially looking up potassium...i'm slowly adding potassium to everything I eat on a regular basis. Sometimes it requires some math to figure it out but I like math and don't mind. lol
  • robert65ferguson
    robert65ferguson Posts: 390 Member
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    Sadly not everyone takes care to ensure accuracy when inputting data. We only learn by experience and regular use. I suggest, that from time to time you check the nutritional info from your packaging and then use the check facility on the website to either confirm the info or to correct it as appropriate, thus helping other users on the site.
  • Robin_Bin
    Robin_Bin Posts: 1,046 Member
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    As others have said, people aren't always very careful about how they enter information. Brands change their packaging over time, and the same company may sell a product in 3 different sized bags -- "bag" is not a unit of measure. I tend to trust the entries where they spelled things correctly and put in the measurements (24 oz bottle, etc.). Yes, the MyFitnessPal staff could check all the ingredients against corporate sites or go searching through the grocery stores where they have access, but if they spent that much labor checking and correcting things, they would need to hire more people and probably couldn't keep the site available for free. There are other sites that charge for that service (and from what I've seen they still aren't much more accurate).

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