Notices

RDA % given for nutrients you can't enter...

Old 02-26-2013, 12:41 PM
  #1  
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 3
Question RDA % given for nutrients you can't enter...

Maybe I missed the answer to this somewhere, but don't see the question. I've been using Fitday for years, and find it to be very informative & helpful. But I've also contacted them several times, and get no response. In the daily graphs/reports, you're given the % of the USRDA that you've fulfilled, but Pant. Acid & Phosphorus, while listed on the nutrients you should have, you can't enter them in the food information. So it tells you you're coming up very short (HUGE on phosphorus), when you can't enter how much is on the food label of what you're eating. A couple of us had literally started taking a supplement, without realizing that we didn't enter it because you can't. It's not on the list of nutrients & other info to enter. Anyone know what the story on this is? ...Thanks!
kkpraft is offline  
Old 03-06-2013, 10:04 AM
  #2  
FitDay Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 1
Default

I have the same question, would love to know the answer! As a vegetarian, I try to be sure that I get enough of the B vitamins, which are the only ones not naturally provided in a vegetarian/vegan diet, but since B5/pantothenic acid isn't enterable, it reports as being low. (I take a multivitamin that provides 100% of the RDA for that, so I know I'm not actually low, but still . . .)

Just noticed that this thread is about FitDayPC, which I assume is the upgrade; I'm using the free web version. Same question, though.
alli_kitty is offline  
Old 10-09-2013, 11:47 AM
  #3  
FitDay Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 4
Default

I too would like to know the answer as well. I'm not so worried about pantothenic acid as it is so universally available; however, I do not understand why FitDay would report the levels without giving us the opportunity to enter the data.
Also, I don't know why their software gives a percentage value for sodium on one base and then uses another base in the final report, so that sodium intake which seems to add up to about 70% comes out ultimately as much higher.
Surely responsible owners of a website would respond to users' questions and comments rather than merely ignore them—or am I too naive?
Weebabbie is offline  
Old 02-02-2015, 01:48 PM
  #4  
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 3
Angry Still no answer - FITDAY pros help us out! - Pant Acid

Hi again! After numerous attempts, I STILL can get no response from a Fitday expert for us. I've been asking that they review the nutrients that we're able to enter for our foods, because so many are missing - ESPECIALLY if you take a multi-vitamin, and it can be dangerous if we're basing supplement use on our FITDAY daily summary reports! The specific one in question a lot is Pantothenic Acid. We're provided here with a page to tell us supposedly how we're doing in our diets relative to the USRDA, and I look at that daily. I've even taken extra supplements on days it's telling me I was very low on something. But for anyone interested, below is apparently what the recommendations for dosages are from an article written on Wikipedia (NOT that I'd bet my life on that given how Wikipedia articles are done). I also tried to get the info from NatureMade's sight - and nobody seems to want to address this vitamin/mineral! Anyway, overall point being - every day I've been told by Fitday that is something I'm at a huge deficit on. I recently reviewed new labels on One A Day Women's vitamins, and that multivitamin actually supplies 15mg/150% USRDA! for Pant Acid. Yet Fitday tells me I'm not taking enough - hmm...I wonder why...FITDAY: PLEASE UPDATE YOUR LIST OF VITAMINS/MINERALS WE ENTER! THERE CAN BE SERIOUS HEALTH CONSEQUENCES TO TAKING SUPPLEMENTS BASED ON INACCURATE/INCOMPLETE INFORMATION!!!!!!-------------------------------------------------------

Daily requirement (per Wikipedia article)

Pantothenate in the form of 4'phosphopantetheine is considered to be the more active form of the vitamin in the body; however, any derivative must be broken down to pantothenic acid before absorption.[22] 10 mg of calcium pantothenate is equivalent to 9.2 mg of pantothenic acid.
Age group Age Requirements[19]
Infants 0–6 months 1.7 mg
Infants 7–12 months 1.8 mg
Children 1–3 years 2 mg
Children 4–8 years 3 mg
Children 9–13 years 4 mg
Adult men and women 14+ years 5 mg
Pregnant women (vs. 5) 6 mg
Breastfeeding women (vs. 5) 7 mg

United Kingdom RDA: 6 mg/day
kkpraft is offline  
Old 02-02-2015, 01:53 PM
  #5  
FitDay Member
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 3
Cool Pant Acid P.S.

P.S. OR, if there is some reason Fitday chooses not to include the option to enter amounts for a particular vitamin/mineral, then at least don't have the reports come back & say you took too little or too much!!!! Leave it off the summary report giving you %'s for the day for each.
kkpraft is offline  
Old 02-03-2015, 07:42 AM
  #6  
Super Moderator
 
Kathy13118's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 2,225
Default

I can't address the issues mentioned here - they fall into the same category of complaints that other health and fitness websites face concerning what nutrients or additives to include and how to measure them - even what to call them.

However, as a longtime fitday user with a large collection of custom foods in my collection here, I realized eventually that the reports I see can't be close to accurate unless I am eating ONLY foods that are plain and basic. All those custom foods I enter will only have the information that is listed on the can or box. There may be vitamin C, vitamin A, or some other vitamins - or even (in the case of some breakfast cereals) a long list of vitamins and minerals.

I have to go by what the food company lists on their product. However, that's not going to stop me from eating a food that doesn't list a nutrient, and when that nutrient is NOT included, it throws the accuracy of the report I'm looking at off by a mile.

The food's value will be added in along with all the other products I consume and if I ate 400% of my Vitamin E requirement, it's nice to know that as a minimum, I got that, but it wasn't listed for other products because (I believe, and I haven't looked this up) it's not required to be listed. I may have eaten 500% of the requirement and not even know it - it is voluntary for the food producer to list that a nutrient and maybe I've consumed more in other products that day.

(Confusing things even more: the values of custom foods change over time and the producer doesn't have to tell ME. For example, I entered a McDonald's filet of fish sandwich in my fitday custom foods data long ago - since then, the values have changed for that food but my entry has not. There are fewer calories, etc., in the current version of that sandwich and I'm still logging the old data when I use my entry.)

As a member of a local foods group in my area, we have had speakers from government agencies come to explain food labeling to us (the local foods group includes people who are small business owners in the food business). There are people in government who will work directly with the food producer to make sure they understand the regulations and follow the rules for listing all the necessary information on a product. It may sound complicated, but they do try to make it work for people in all aspects of the food business.

The FDA website has this information, for example, as a future possible change to nutrition labels:

'Nutrients of Public Health Significance

11. What are nutrients of public health significance?
These are nutrients that, when lacking, are associated with the risk of chronic disease. Essentially, they are nutrients Americans don’t eat enough of. The FDA believes these should be declared on the label so that people can see how much of these important nutrients are in the products. The FDA examined data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to determine which essential vitamins and minerals should be included as nutrients of public health significance. The FDA has proposed that the nutrients of public health significance should include calcium, vitamin D, potassium and iron. Calcium and iron already are required; vitamin D and potassium are being proposed to be added to the list of mandatory nutrients.

12. Why are Vitamin D and potassium being proposed to be added to the Nutrition Facts label?
Vitamin D is important for its role in bone health, and some population groups are not getting enough of it. Adequate potassium intake is beneficial in lowering blood pressure and intakes of this nutrient also are low among some population groups.

13. Why are you proposing to no longer require vitamins A and C?
Current data indicate that Vitamin A and C deficiencies in the general population are not common. These vitamins would still be allowed to be declared on labels on a voluntary basis.'

Proposed Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label

These are just proposed changes being considered. Not planned changes.


This doesn't address your question about fitday, I know. For me, it just highlights how UNLESS I eat only basic foods found listed in the government database (used by all websites that have nutrtion reporting capabilities, I assume), I am going on information from my custom database, which can only be an approximation, maybe a weak one, of what I am getting in terms of nutrtion from my diet. In the future, even the few nutrients that are required to be listed (required, not voluntary) may change.

The suggestion that fitday list only the nutrients that are always going to be reliably included makes sense but as that section of the FDA site shows, that's probably going to change. That is a nutrition-label-centric approach, though, when what the government food database includes for information is more detailed. If I ate only foods that came from the government database, no custom foods (including supplements), then any website nutrition report would probably be more accurate for me.

About supplements:

'Who Is Responsible For Ensuring The Safety And Efficacy Of Dietary Supplements?

Unlike prescription and over-the-counter medicines, dietary supplement products are not reviewed by the government before they are marketed. Under the law, manufacturers of dietary supplements are responsible for making sure their products are safe before they go to market. If you want to know more about the product you are purchasing, check with the manufacturer to find out if the firm:

Can supply information to support the claims for their products

Can share information on the safety or efficacy of the ingredients in the product

Has received any adverse event reports from consumers using their products

What is FDA's Responsibility?

FDA has the responsibility to take action against unsafe dietary supplement products after they reach the market. The agency may also take legal action against dietary supplement manufacturers if FDA can prove that claims on marketed dietary supplements are false and misleading.'

consumerlab.com is a resource for information about supplements. Unfortunately, you have to subscribe to their website to get all their reports and that's not free. It's a great place to find out about certain supplements and brands - even the amounts contained in the supplements are something to question!

Last edited by Kathy13118; 02-03-2015 at 08:12 AM.
Kathy13118 is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2021 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.