Where the nutrition numbers come from
SupperBoard shows a per-serving nutrition estimate for a recipe. This page explains exactly how that number is produced, what it can and cannot tell you, and the public sources you can read and check it against. The app carries a short version on the nutrition card, with this full explanation one tap away, and this page stays current without waiting on an app update.
The short version
- The numbers are an estimate, not a measurement.
- A model from Anthropic, the company that makes the Claude models, reached through our own server, a Cloudflare Worker, reads the recipe's title, its ingredient list and its serving count, works out what the whole recipe is likely to contain, and divides by the number of servings.
- SupperBoard does not query USDA FoodData Central, the FDA, or any other nutrition database. Nothing is looked up.
- Nothing is weighed, and no food is analyzed.
- It is a planning number. It is not medical, dietary, or nutrition-label advice.
- If nutrition matters to you medically, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian and read the product label.
How the number is made
These numbers are an estimate, not a measurement. The model reads your ingredient list, works out what one serving is likely to contain, and divides by the number of servings. It does not weigh anything and it does not look your ingredients up in a nutrition database.
The estimate comes from Anthropic's model, reached through our own server, a Cloudflare Worker, from three inputs only: the recipe's title, the ingredient lines and the serving count. It is asked for the best reasonable estimate a careful cookbook would print, not a lab result. That instruction is the literal wording our server sends the model, so this page and the code agree.
The figures are shown per serving, in grams for protein, carbohydrate, fat, fiber and sugar, and in milligrams for sodium, the same units a Nutrition Facts panel uses. Calories and grams are rounded to the nearest 5, sodium to the nearest 10 milligrams, so the card never shows more precision than an estimate has. Borrowing the units is not a claim that the card is a Nutrition Facts panel or that it is label-compliant.
What the number cannot tell you
Brands, how much you trim, how much oil stays in the pan, how long something cooks, and how big your serving really is can all move these figures. A recipe written loosely gives a looser estimate. Two cooks making the same recipe will not eat the same number.
We make no claim about how close the estimate is to a laboratory value, and you should not treat it as one.
When the number matters medically
Use these numbers for planning. For anything that matters medically, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian before you act on them, and read the label on the food you actually bought. MedlinePlus, from the NIH National Library of Medicine, is a good plain-English place to start reading.
Allergy and dietary flags
Allergy and dietary flags in SupperBoard are read from the text of a recipe. They are a convenience, not a guarantee that a dish is safe for you. A recipe can omit an ingredient, a brand can change its formula, and shared equipment can cross-contaminate.
If you have a food allergy or intolerance, read the label on every product you use and treat the flag as a prompt to check, never as clearance. The same point is in our Terms of Use.
What a figure on this card is compared against
These are the public references that give a figure on the card its meaning. They are the scale the number is expressed on, not where the number came from.
FDA: Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels
The federal reference scale. This is what makes a sodium figure mean something: the Daily Value for sodium is 2,300mg, so an 890mg serving is roughly 39 percent of a day. Read the Daily Value reference.
FDA: How to Understand and Use the Nutrition Facts Label
The plain-language version of the same thing: serving size, calories, and percent Daily Value in terms a cook can read. Read the FDA's guide to the label.
FDA: Interactive Nutrition Facts Label
If you only open one link on this page, open this one. It is an FDA tool that walks you through what each line on a label means. Open the interactive label.
eCFR: 21 CFR 101.9, Nutrition labeling of food
The regulation that defines how nutrients are declared per serving, in which units, and how they are rounded. We borrow its units, grams and milligrams per serving. We do not follow its rounding, and our card is not a Nutrition Facts panel. Read 21 CFR 101.9.
Where you can check them yourself
SupperBoard does not query any of these databases. They are here so you can look an ingredient up and judge our estimate for yourself.
USDA FoodData Central
The federal food composition database. Look up any ingredient and compare it against what we printed. To say it plainly once more: SupperBoard does not query this database, and our figures do not come from it. Search FoodData Central.
USDA Food and Nutrition Information Center (FNIC)
USDA's wider hub of nutrition resources, including the DRI Calculator for Healthcare Professionals, which will work out nutrient needs by age and sex. Visit FNIC.
Guidance worth following
If you want advice to act on, act on these rather than on us.
Dietary Guidelines for Americans
The authoritative federal advice on what to eat, published by ODPHP for HHS and USDA. Read the Dietary Guidelines.
NIH Office of Dietary Supplements: Nutrient Recommendations and Databases
The Dietary Reference Intake tables from the National Academies. Daily Values are a labeling simplification; these are the science underneath them. Read the DRI tables.
FDA: Sodium in Your Diet
Sodium is the figure cooks most often want to watch, so it gets its own entry. Read about sodium.
WHO: Healthy diet fact sheet
SupperBoard ships worldwide. This is the international reference for sodium and free sugars, for readers the FDA does not cover. Read the WHO fact sheet.
EFSA: Dietary Reference Values
The European intake references, the EU counterpart to the NIH entry above. Read the EFSA reference values.
MedlinePlus: Nutrition
The NIH consumer health portal, and a plain-English fallback for any term on the card you do not recognize. Open MedlinePlus nutrition.
Where to find this in the app
Open any recipe, scroll to the nutrition card, and tap How this is estimated, and sources. The same page is reachable from Profile, under Help and legal, at How nutrition is estimated, and sources.
Changes to this page
We may update this page as the app changes. We will post the revised version here with a new date.
Contact
Questions about how these numbers are made: admin@gastronautlabs.com