trust 'common foods', or brand data (when the latter shows lower quantities)

judoman_09

Hi I normally would try to use Common Foods tab so as to get the most accurate micronutrient results. However I have come across one of my common foods that somehow isn't as good as it should be. Eg. 'Brunswick Wild Sardines in Olive Oil' : my Australian tin of it has only 74g drained weight (not 84g as per the pre-programmed Cronometer data ... but that is not a significant issue. ) What my problem is:
When i look at the average quantity per 100g of drained weight, Brunswick only shows 20.2g of protein. However when I look at all the Common Food varieties of sardines tinned in oil, drained, they all show superior protein levels at 24g, and other nutrients are generally higher than the Brunswick label too.
So should I just trust the Common Foods databases as-is ... or should I 'create a new food' using them as a foundation, but then downgrade what nutrients i have to the Brunswick label (eg. drop the protein level to 20) and just accept all other micronutrients at the higher value?

Vickie

Fellow Aussie here! waves Depending on the quantity and frequency of the food I eat, sometimes I use the common food, other times I create a custom food for it. If it's a one-off food I would just use the common food entry. If I eat that food a lot, I would create the custom food from a copy of the common food so other vitamins and minerals keep their presumably similar values. I update the custom food when the food label changes.

The only thing to watch out for in the latter case is foods like US cereals seem to have a lot more vitamins added to it than Australian ones, and milk seems to always come fortified with vitamin D when most Aussie milk is just plain milk (as far as I know), etc.

Hilary

If your priority is to log foods exactly as the nutrition facts appear on the package, I would recommend using the barcode scanner feature on the mobile app or entering the bar code number into the search bar on the Web version. If you cannot find the corresponding nutrition information, you can create a custom food and enter the nutrition information manually as seen on your foods packaging, and save the data in your custom foods to easily enter it again the next time you eat the food. When creating a custom food, you can submit it for publishing to our public database for use by you and other users later!
If your priority is to get the most detailed information for a food, I recommend choosing entries from the NCCDB in the Common Foods Tab. The best data you will find will come from our NCCDB and USDA Sources. These sources have tested foods in Laboratories or gathered information from credible sources to determine complete nutrient profiles.
So it is really up to you which data is the most useful for your needs! The listings in the common foods tab will have the most comprehensive data, while the branded product information will be the most specific.
Have a look at this blog post to learn more! https://cronometer.com/blog/6-tips-getting-nutrition-data/

judoman_09

:-) thank you for your suggestions. I have decided to go with the most similar Common Food, and then just not worry about minor differences, as all this tracking a little bit 'fuzzy' anyway. I'll just do my best, and that will be fine.

judoman_09

I just discovered this useful resource for custom-foods in Australian:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Pages/default.aspx

Vickie

Thanks @judoman_09! I'm aware of NUTTAB (the acronym still amuses me). If only it includes animo acid breakdown as well!

TheRegents

@judoman_09 Just be aware that the formula they used to calculate the energy for entries in NUTTAB is a different formula to what's widely used and differ from those stated in AUSNUT and what you'll find on nutrition labels. The explanation is here:

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/science/monitoringnutrients/nutrientables/nuttab/Documents/REVISED Complete Explanatory Notes with Attachments may 2011.pdf

You'll need to scroll down

Please note the energy factors used in this equation are not consistent with those specified for the calculation of energy in Standard 1.2.8 – Nutrition Information Requirements of the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (‘the Code’), and therefore NUTTAB 2010 energy values are not appropriate for use in nutrition labelling.

To be consistent -- with Australian food labels -- you're better off using AUSNUT for determining energy values.

Edit: The section of the FAQ that talks about NUTTAB's energy calculations has a link that seems to be broken and probably doesn't link to the most important part of the legislation anyway Specifically they're referring to the fact that the formula and energy factors used in NUTTAB differ to what is here: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2018C00367 (Section S11—2)

TheRegents

@Vickie Amino acids broken down like this?

Edit: link didn't paste. Umm. Hmm. Anyway, google amino acid components australian foods and the first result is NUTTAB 2010 - Amino Acid File.xls