Checked against USDA on 28 September 2026
How accurate is Cloche’s nutrient estimate?
In half of our comparisons with USDA, Cloche’s nutrient estimate is off by 28% or less, and 47 of every 100 land within 25%. We estimate 26 nutrients from what you say you ate, compare them with USDA reference foods, and publish the results here, worst foods named.
Made for iPhone. First invitations via TestFlight.
Sodium is off by 23% in the middle case, across the foods compared.
These six nutrients appear in the meal readings. "Median" is the middle error: half the foods came closer and half came further. "Within 25%" is the share of foods where the estimate landed inside a quarter of USDA's number. "Worst" names the food the estimate missed by the most.
| Nutrient | Foods | Median error | Within 25% | Worst miss | On |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium | 51 | 23% | 51% | 8650% | Puerto Rican seasoning without ham and tomato sauce |
| Saturated fat | 49 | 10% | 84% | 54% | Cereal, corn puffs |
| Sugar | 50 | 22% | 58% | 1233% | Chicken cornbread |
| Fiber | 40 | 30% | 43% | 1100% | Soy milk, chocolate |
| Potassium | 59 | 18% | 64% | 525% | Beverages, Vegetable and fruit juice drink, reduced calorie, with low-calorie sweetener, added vitamin C |
| Cholesterol | 36 | 15% | 69% | 114% | Mushrooms, stuffed |
The sodium row helps you judge how to use an estimate in your journal. Its median error describes these reference-food comparisons; it is not an error range for your wrap, sauce or restaurant meal. Use the estimate as a starting point, and review the food and portion you logged.
The vitamins miss by about half; a week's vitamin total is a rough guide.
Vitamin E, vitamin A and vitamin C miss by about half in the middle case. Omega-3 got 12 comparisons only. Most USDA rows carry none, and the estimate guessed some where there was none. The app labels every one of these an estimate. A reader watching iron or bones should read their nutrient's row before trusting a week's total.
| Nutrient | Foods | Median error | Within 25% | Worst miss | On |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omega-3 | 12 | 100% | 8% | 4900% | Salad Dressing, mayonnaise, light, SMART BALANCE, Omega Plus light |
| Vitamin D | 19 | 65% | 26% | 100% | Baby Toddler cereal, multigrain, dry |
| Vitamin K | 35 | 62% | 14% | 900% | Caesar dressing, light |
| Vitamin A | 36 | 55% | 19% | 3789% | Cereal, corn puffs |
| Vitamin C | 32 | 54% | 38% | 218% | APPLEBEE'S, chili |
| Added sugar | 20 | 52% | 35% | 454% | Orange Blossom |
| Vitamin B6 | 60 | 47% | 35% | 2400% | Beverages, Vegetable and fruit juice drink, reduced calorie, with low-calorie sweetener, added vitamin C |
| Folate | 53 | 44% | 34% | 233% | Lamb, composite of trimmed retail cuts, separable fat, trimmed to 1/4" fat, choice, cooked |
| Purines | 11 | 42% | 36% | 857% | Whole-grain wheat flour |
| Vitamin B12 | 46 | 39% | 30% | 900% | Crackers, sandwich, cheese filled (Ritz) |
| Vitamin E | 47 | 38% | 34% | 900% | Pineapple juice, frozen concentrate, unsweetened, undiluted |
| Selenium | 51 | 36% | 41% | 614% | Seaweed, cooked, no added fat |
| Choline | 46 | 28% | 48% | 249% | Soup, vegetable chicken, canned, prepared with water, low sodium |
| Zinc | 50 | 25% | 54% | 134% | Cereal, corn puffs |
| Calcium | 41 | 23% | 56% | 627% | Crackers, sandwich, cheese filled (Ritz) |
| Iron | 51 | 22% | 57% | 567% | Orange Blossom |
| Fructose | 10 | 21% | 60% | 62% | TACO BELL, BURRITO SUPREME with steak |
| Magnesium | 55 | 16% | 69% | 400% | Caesar dressing, light |
| Alcohol | 6 | 10% | 67% | 100% | Glug |
Powdered, fortified and processed foods fool the estimate. Whole cuts of meat come closest.
The worst misses are factory foods: a powdered creamer and a fortified cereal bar and a low-fat cheese. Whole cuts of meat come out closest. The "median" here is the middle error across every nutrient compared for that one food.
| Food, as USDA names it | Nutrients compared | Median error |
|---|---|---|
| Whole-grain wheat flour | 1 | 857% |
| Beverages, Vegetable and fruit juice drink, reduced calorie, with low-calorie sweetener, added vitamin C | 6 | 170% |
| Fruit juice drink | 3 | 100% |
| Orange Blossom | 8 | 94% |
| Agave liquid sweetener | 9 | 93% |
| Peanuts, unroasted | 13 | 0% |
| Limes, raw | 8 | 0% |
| Vodka | 1 | 0% |
How the check runs: 84 USDA foods, one estimate each, the gap divided by USDA's number.
- The reference is USDA FoodData Central: 12,217 foods that carry at least ten of the 26 nutrients Cloche tracks.
- Each run spreads its picks evenly down that list, then adds foods that carry alcohol, fructose or added sugar so those get checked too. Brands and restaurant dishes and raw cuts and cooked dishes all appear.
- FoodData Central has no purines. Those are checked against the USDA and NIH purine tables instead, with calories and macros from the closest FoodData Central food. Added sugar comes from USDA’s food patterns data for the survey foods.
- The estimator gets the food's name and a 100 g portion and USDA's calories and macros. Those are the inputs it has after you log a meal. It fills in the 26 nutrients.
- We divide the gap between the estimate and USDA's value by USDA's value. A pair with both sides near zero does not count. That way a trace of a vitamin cannot count as a miss.
- Each check carries its date, and this page shows the latest one.
The check runs again whenever the estimator or the model changes. The page changes with it. A number here can get worse. If it does, it says so.
Use the estimate to explore your meals.
Cloche keeps nutrient estimates beside the meals they describe, so you can ask what contributed to the day. This check shows where the estimator did well and where it missed. It does not establish accuracy for every meal or predict a health result.
Join the iPhone waitlist to try describing a meal, reviewing the estimate and asking about your journal. Your TestFlight invitation comes from [email protected].
Watching sodium? See the food journal for high blood pressure.