Compare Foods

logicalparadox

I have two common scenarios:

1) I am adding a new food to my diary and have to figure out which database entry has the most complete and accurate nutritional data.

2) I am trying to decide what to eat between a few options and trying to figure out which one is the best choice nutritionally.

In either case, it would be very useful to be able to do side by side comparisons of foods. That way I can make sure I'm getting the database entries that have data on all the nutrients of interest to me. Many times I only realize after a long time of using a particular entry that it is completely missing in potassium, magnesium, or the amino acid profile for its primary protein source(s). That way I can also choose foods based on which one complements my nutritional needs for the day. Oh wow, I could eat THAT but THIS would be the better choice given my current nutrient ratios for today.

The oracle is really nice, but I'm surprised it doesn't allow for direct comparisons.

As a last note, it'd be really nice to be able to search with more granularity. Like which foods database, or search and sort based on number of nutrients accounted for or by amounts of this or that nutrient.

Hilary

@logicalparadox that is a great suggestion and I think a lot of users would appreciate it! Thanks!
When you enter a food into your diary, in the search window select the gear icon in the top right corner to expand the advanced search options. You can then select a specific database to search from - I would suggest sticking to NCCDB and USDA for the most complete data.
You can also use our new search tabs. Select the "Common foods" tab to search only handpicked food entries that contain complete nutrient information.
You can learn more about these features by having a look at some of our recent blog posts; in particular, have a look at our most recent post https://cronometer.com/blog/6-tips-getting-nutrition-data/.
To learn more about the tabs in the search window, see https://cronometer.com/blog/search-tabs-update-polar-integration/

logicalparadox

@Hillary thanks for the response. Your first suggestion is great for when I'm using the web app; unfortunately, it doesn't help much when using the mobile apps since that feature doesn't seem to be available.

Hilary

@logicalparadox you can use the "common foods" tab on your mobile device to search the best data we have available! This esentially pares the search down to USDA and NCCDB foods only, and will find only foods with complete or close to complete nutrient profiles!

babmfm

@Hilary

Has this "Compare Foods" feature been implemented?

Hilary

@babmfm it has not. We do hope to address this in the future, but the list is long and our company is small! It's on our radar though!