App Detail » iCholesterol.

Published by: James Hollender

+ Universal App - Designed for iPhone and iPad

Price: $2.99
Current Version: 7.0
Released: December 17, 2010

What's New

A powerful new Search Facility has been added to the All Foods view. You can now search providing two search words/phrases. The first is required, but the second is optional. If a second word/phrase is provided, then you have the option of three possible ways to use the two words/phrases: 1) AND; 2) OR; and 3) BUT NOT. Search words/phrases are case insensitive. White space at the beginning and end of Search words/phrases will be removed. The "AND / OR / BUT NOT" operand selection is not taken into account unless there is a second Search word/phrase. As you are entering the Search criteria, the number of items found is displayed.

App Description

iCholesterol is one of 10 iNutrient apps based on the USDA National Nutrient Database. The others include:

- iCarbs (Carbohydrates)
- iFiber (Fiber)
- iKals (Calories)
- iPotassium (Potassium)
- iProteins (Proteins
- iSatFat (Saturated Fat)
- iSodium (Sodium)
- iSugars (Sugars)
- Vitamin K (Vitamins K1, K1D & K2)

Users can record their intake for any food. The information is maintained for one year and is presented in reverse chronological order grouped by day, so the latest data is presented first in the list. Editing allows for: 1) changing the number of servings; 2) changing the date; and 3) deleting records. Individual Intake Items can be copied to the current day, and all Intake Items for a single day can be copied to the current day.

If you are working towards healthy eating, knowing the amount of cholesterol in the foods available for consumption can be extremely helpful.

The iCholesterol app provides information about foods and how they are rated for content of dietary cholesterol. This is provided as a means to assist in deciding which foods to eat. The food servings are rated from EXTREMELY LOW in cholesterol all the way up to EXTREMELY HIGH. The following colors help readily identify which is which:

- Black = Rated EXTREMELY HIGH in Cholesterol (151 - 641 mg)
- Dark Red = Rated VERY HIGH in Cholesterol (81 - 150 mg)
- Red = Rated HIGH in Cholesterol (51 - 80 mg)
- Orange = Rated MODERATELY HIGH in Cholesterol (31 - 50 mg)
- Yellow = Rated MODERATE in Cholesterol (21 - 30 mg)
- Light Green = Rated MODERATELY LOW in Cholesterol (11 - 20 mg)
- Green = Rated LOW in Cholesterol (6 - 10 mg)
- Cyan = Rated VERY LOW in Cholesterol (1 - 5 mg)
- White = Rated EXTREMELY LOW in Cholesterol (0 mg)

Essentially, the cooler the color, the lower the amount of Cholesterol, with white being the coolest color and black being the hottest (think burnt).

There are eight tables listing food servings:

- All Foods
- Fast Foods
- Fruits & Vegetables
- Meat, Fish & Shellfish
- Dairy & Egg
- Cereal Grains & Pasta
- Sweets
- Snacks

The All Foods list allows you to search by any word or partial word from all the Food Titles.

Selecting a food in any of the tables will display pertinent information about the selected food serving:

- Food Title
- Weight (in grams)
- Common Measure (serving size for weight)
- Cholesterol Content (in milligrams)
- Calories
- USDA Description
- USDA Food Group
- USDA Nutrient Database Number

Information is derived from the USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference: Cholesterol Content of Selected Foods per Common Measure. There are currently over 1,100 different foods included, searchable using more than 2,500 names (some foods are known by different names or how they are prepared, e.g., "Egg, Scrambled" and "Scrambled Egg"). A few these have as many as six searchable names.

The iCholesterol Info screen provides access to additional information pages:
- What is Cholesterol?
- Cholesterol in Foods
- Highest Cholesterol Foods
- How to Use this App
- Access My Records
- iNutrients Custom Food Definitions (another app with more features and data for 10 nutrients)
- Other Important Info. (includes allowance to 1) Report a Problem; 2) Ask a Questions; and 3) Make a Suggestion)

If you are experiencing difficulties with the app, please report the problems to the developer directly via [email protected] before giving negative feedback. Some errors during loading are beyond our control. In one instance it was deemed to have occurred because the iPhone was jail-broken. The user was able to get the app functioning properly, but only on a non jail-broken device.