100% needed? Help.

Nicolas

Hello here is my question. Does having 100% in the fat, carbohydrate and protein categories are necessary for proper body function? Is the exercise or goal of the site to be 100% in all categories? Or you can stop at 75% fats and carbohydrates, Thanks you.

Vickie

it's entirely possible to reach 100% of micronutrients without reaching 100% of each macronutrient or energy intake, and vice versa. I'd say the app is here to achieve whatever our health goal is. It's probably best to aim for close to 100% of all micronutrients, but in order to answer your question, we need to know what you're after by using the app! Weight gain? Maintenance? Loss? Specific diet or health concern?

TheRegents

I think there are two (at least) trains of thought when it comes to micronutrient intakes, and it probably depends on what guideline -- or "diet" -- you're following.

In Australia there is the Australian Dietary Guidelines which present the Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) for vitamins, minerals, macros, etc, for healthy people. For vitamins and minerals the published RDI are meant to meet the average daily requirements for 97-98% of people (this is different to Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) published in the same guideline; the RDI is derived from the EARs but the EARs, by definition, would only address the requirements for about 50% of the population and not 97-98%). I highlighted the word average because the RDI, in those guidelines, is not a daily target but the average intake over a short period of time -- say 3 or 4 days.

I've just quickly glanced at the US guidelines and they use the term Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) and this seems to be an exact synonym for what Australia calls RDI. The definition given by the US guidelines also uses the word average so I'm interpreting this to mean the same as for Australia's RDI; i.e. the RDAs are intakes on average over a short period of time.

So, if someone decides to follow either of these guidelines it's intended that if, for example, they don't reach their Vitamin B12 RDI/RDA for a day then that's ok if they get more the next day (keeping under the upper limit for whatever the target is) and the average of the two days reaches or exceeds the target.

Other guidelines or diets will of course have their own definitions and therefore targets (and whether it's a per day target or an _average _target).

As for macronutrients (fat, carbs, protein) they're usually considered to be average targets as well -- at least that's how I interpret things. It would be unreasonable and difficult (in most instances) to meet an exact fat/carb/protein ratio every single day. As long as they average out to what you want the ratios to be I'd be happy.

Edit: The Vitamin B12 example is probably good in the sense that B12 is fat soluble and stored in the body (about 50% in the liver). Depletion of B12 stored in the liver is about 0.1% per day so if someone had no dietary intake of B12 (assuming they're not already deficient) it'd take, even then, quite a long time for deficiency to occur. So it's the average that's important.

Nicolas

Hello Vickie. Firsht if all i'm very happy about your answer. I hope you doing good.🙂

Im 5"8 and 140lb and i like too run and practice some martial art. I want to use this app for health care\concern and maintenance more then anything else. I feel like our market industry trying to make us eat food without any nutriment that arent truly very good for us like meat that give desease and hard to digest, Milk from cows filled with random medication, and other food just saturated of rafined Sugar, satured\trans fat and overloaded with salt. Im trying to cut all this out by getting a Better Diet base on beans, Corn, tofu, almonds and so on.

Ive took notes of all food ive conssumed on a normal Day. At a total of 1850kcal on 2350kcal i ad the micros bar ligtened green, some over 100% and that is just fine i guess. Problem was on the maccro bar where we could see à total protein gain of 52% and fat total gain of 63%. With a déficit of 500kcal, i couldnt beleive that i could consume enough kcal to get these two maccro (fat,protein) bar filled to 100% with only 500kcal to go.

Is it that important in that way?? Im mot over weigt. Im just trying to fill the bar to 100% cause thats whats looked logic to me, im i right? Is it not necessary to get these maccro at 100% if my micros are fine all un green? How Do know and find the right middle balance in that grid 💞
Is my stats normal for my type of body?😰
i really dont know. But if dont feel like biting into à square of butter only to get that maccro fat to 100% 😇
Thankyou so Much.

Nicolas

I wonder if theres a study on an fixed average amount of fat and protein according to a type stats body mass somwhere si je could Say oh okay if dont bave to get 100% fat personnes exemple..

Ive Heard the vitamine B12 is like not somthing we need daily. So that would lead to Say that we dont need 100% Everywhere everyday hmmm

TheRegents

Vitamin B12 was just an example (it was the first thing that popped into my mind). To conclude that all things should be average, just because one is, is a logical fallacy... however all the RDIs are averages because they were designed that way. Maybe I should have chosen vitamin C as an example

You can google for "macronutrient distribution ratios" (in google or google scholar) and find some interesting reading

TheRegents

Oh, I personally wouldn't eat butter just to fill up my fat bar either

Nicolas

Thankyou very muchoo

Susan_RD_101

Great thread!

Just to add to this...

Both macronutrient targets and dietary reference intakes are established by the Institute of Medicine (and used in North America).

Macronutrient targets are the percentage of calories from each group (fat, protein, and carbs) that is believed to be acceptable. The IOM, recommends the following:

Protein: 10-35%
Fat: 20-25%
Carb: 45-65%

In contrast, Dietary Reference Intakes are either RDAs (Recommended Dietary Allowance) or AIs (Adequate Intakes) and are specific targets that we should aim for both macro and micro nutrients.

Some of these nutrients are more important to meet than others. For example, the RDA for iron for women in 18 mg; meeting this level daily is important to prevent deficiency. In contrast, potassium has an AI (which is really just a guesstimate), so it may not be as important to hit 100% for this nutrient.

Nutrients that are water-soluble (which includes vitamin B12) need to be replenished daily (although you do store some in your liver). Vitamins A, E, D, and K are fat soluble, so will take a longer time to deplete if we don't hit 100%.

Hope this clarifies some things!

TheRegents

I wonder why in my previous message I said b12 is fat-soluble?! I must have been tired LOL. I think maybe I began writing about vitamin D and then changed my mind after the first sentence and started talking about b12 (forgetting to change fat- to water-). Oh well.

TheRegents

@Susan_RD_101 Even though I mistakenly said B12 was fat-soluble and it's not, from what I've read about 50% of B12 is stored in the liver and the liver-stored B12 (depending on what source I read) has an elimination half-life of about a year. Surely, then, it would take years to develop a deficiency even if dietary intake of B12 was zero; and therefore as long as you're getting on average the RDA then it would be unlikely a deficiency would develop. Am I missing something? Perhaps the body doesn't/can't use the liver-stored B12 in the same way?

Also, am I misinterpreting the US dietary guidelines where they say that RDA is average (I'm reading that as saying it's ok to go under some days as long as you go over other days so that the average intake meets the RDA)?

Susan_RD_101

@TheRegents

You are right about vitamin B12! Although it is water soluble, we do store a fair amount in our liver. However, the exact amount will vary from person-to-person due to genetic factors, medication usage, and variations in stomach acid. Often, it can take someone going vegan 1-2 years to develop a deficiency. BUT, because symptoms of a vitamin B12 deficiency can be permanent, I always want someone to supplement with vitamin B12 as soon as they become vegan.

The RDA is the level of nutrient intake that will meet 97-98% of a population's nutrient requirement; it is 2 standard deviations from the EAR. The EAR, or estimated average requirement, is the level of nutrient intake that meets the needs of 50% of the population .

In research, the EAR is used to assess the nutrient intake of a population while the RDA is used to assess the nutrient intake of an individual.

And as a final note, if a nutrient has an AI (or adequate intake), it means that an EAR couldn't be set and scientists aren't sure what the exact nutrient requirement is. Most of the nutrient requirements for infants are AIs given that research with infants is often unethical.

Hope this helps!

TheRegents

Thanks @Susan_RD_101