collard greens and folate

plumpum

I am wondering why 1 cup collard greens in cronometer is so low in folate. I thought 1 cup was supposed to supply about half of my daily folate-but it's only showing up at 12%.

Aaron

One thing to be careful of, especially with things like leafy greens, is that one person's cup of collards might be very different than another's, depending on how tightly they pack the leafy greens into a cup, the actual amount can be very different.

Another thing to be careful of is one person could be referring to cooked, while another referring to raw, which again would be comparing values between very different amounts of the item.

The best thing would be to compare weighed amounts using as kitchen scale, and of course make sure to compare cooked or uncooked as appropriate.

mike

I have long given up on using "cups" for measurements because I found that with this system of measurements I can vary by up to + or - 25% . For accuracy, I strictly use the gram system for every thing I enter in cronometer.

plumpum

I've tried entering both raw and cooked. Neither show much folate. Does cronometer just assume I use less than a full cup?

Frank

We use (purchase) databases, we don't test the foods, meaning we don't assume any of the measurements. They are what is reported to us. We do have a method for you to report an issue for a food and we encourage you to do so. Here is how to do that and we can get it verified and changed for you guys: https://blog.cronometer.com/?p=34152

It is a bit of a game and we are trying to make it better for you the users.

Best regards
Frank

Aaron

plumplum, as I mentioned before, the amount of leaves one stuffs into a cup can vary so much from person to person, that for this type of food, it's better to compare gram for gram, as a cup isn't a very consistent measurement.

Aaron

I did some more digging on this, and I think the main reason it's so different is that all of the other places on the web such as http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2411/2 are using very old data that has since been revised by the the USDA. For example, nutritiondata.self.com is based on USDA sr21 database which is 8 or 9 years old now, and we're using the latest USDA sr28 data which has revised the folate amount down to what you see on our site.

Dave_Prosser1

Link to obtainUSDA sr28 data for foods not in Cronometer database?

Aaron

@Dave_Prosser1 I'm not sure what you mean? We already have the USDA sr28 in our database.

GeorgeV

That was a good idea to recommend using grams. I will do that from now on. Thanks

LH1

I know they say that leafy greens have lots of folate;** it's not really true**. Spinach and romaine lettuce, do, that's about it for the greens I regularly consume; turnip greens also have a lot of folate. Swiss chard and beet greens do not have much folate, which is interesting since they are closely related to spinach. On the other hand, beet root does have a good amount of folate.

The whole foods that help me meet my folate needs most often are broccoli, lentils and other pulses, and asparagus. I use nutritional yeast which is a fortified food that contains folic acid, which is different from the methylfolate found in whole foods.

Here's a list of top food food sources of folate based on reasonable serving sizes (you'll note there's only two leafy greens on the list, spinach and turnip greens):
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrient&dbid=63

I also 'cheat' and take half a methylfolate plus 'active' B12 supplement most days. There isn't much research on supplementing with these forms; I take it at my own risk.

Hilary

Great info, @LH1 ! To learn more about which foods have certain nutrients you can also Ask The Oracle! Check it out at https://cronometer.com/help/foods/#oracle
Enjoy!

Dave_Prosser1

@AaronAdministrator What I mean is Do you have a link to the USDA sr28 database? There are all sorts of foods that are not in, or have sparse data as far as the chronometer database is concerned. As I fill in the gaps more often than not via nutritiondata.com, and you point out that their data is from an older USDA base, I would like to fill in the inadequacy in the chronometer base with more up to date data, as far as my own use is concerned.

Aaron

@Dave_Prosser1

USDAsr28

Curious what types of common foods you find missing, as we have the entire USDA2r8 in our database already. We have also have a nutrition data curation team if you have any suggestions for foods to add, they can have a look.