Nutrient Targets

Platebreaker tracks 113 nutrients. Each one has a target (the amount you should aim for) and an optional upper limit (the amount you should stay below). The profile setup wizard sets initial values based on your biological details and chosen guideline authority, but you can adjust everything from the target editor. Open it from your profile detail screen by tapping Edit Targets.

Nutrients are organized across tabs: Pinned, Macros & Totals, Lipids, Carbohydrates, Proteins & Amino Acids, Minerals, Vitamins, Other, and All. Macros & Totals is where most people start. The All tab is a searchable list if you know the nutrient name and just want to get to it fast.

Setting Targets and Limits

Each nutrient has a slider with up to two handles.

The left handle is your target. That’s the daily amount you want to reach, corresponding to the RDA, AI, or PRI from your chosen health authority. Think of it as your minimum goal.

The right handle is your upper limit. The maximum daily amount unlikely to cause harm, corresponding to the UL (Tolerable Upper Intake Level). Stay below this, especially over time.

The space between the two handles is your acceptable intake range. Anywhere in that zone is good. Below the left handle means you’re falling short. Above the right handle means you’re exceeding the safe limit.

Not every nutrient has both. Some only have a target with no established upper limit. Others only have a limit with no established target. Plenty have both.

You can drag either handle to change its value, or type a number into the input fields on either side of the slider. All changes are held locally until you hit Save, so you can experiment without committing.

Comparing Authority Recommendations

Small dots on the slider track show what your selected guideline authority recommends for each nutrient. They give you a reference point as you adjust. If you’ve moved a handle away from the default, the dot shows you where it was.

You can compare what different authorities recommend without switching your profile’s default. From any nutrient’s options menu, choose Show Presets and cycle through NASEM, EFSA, NHMRC, and NNR. The dots on the slider update to reflect each authority’s values. If you like what you see, Align to Presets sets that nutrient’s target and limit to match. This only affects the one nutrient, not your whole profile.

Four authorities provide the basis for defaults. NASEM covers the United States and Canada. EFSA sets values for the EU. NHMRC covers Australia and New Zealand. NNR covers Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. The Platebreaker default takes the highest recommended target and lowest upper limit across all four. Most conservative option.

You choose one during profile setup, and 65 nutrients get default values. The remaining 48 tracked nutrients you set manually.

Prioritizing Nutrients in Search

Every nutrient has a weight that controls how much it influences recipe search rankings. Default is 1.0. Crank the weight up and the search algorithm will prioritize recipes that fill gaps in this nutrient. Drop it down and it fades into the background. Set it to 0 and search basically ignores the nutrient, though it still gets tracked. Weights go from 0.1 to 10.0.

Target and limit each have their own weight, so you can control them independently. You might want the algorithm to care a lot about meeting your iron target but care less about staying under the iron limit, or vice versa.

Most people won’t touch weights. They become useful when you have a specific priority, like emphasizing iron if you’re managing low levels, or calcium during pregnancy. Access this from any nutrient’s options menu under Edit Weights.

Adjusting Storage Periods

Not all nutrients need daily replenishment. Fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and many minerals are stored in your body for days or weeks. Water-soluble vitamins like C and the B vitamins get used and excreted much faster.

Platebreaker uses storage periods when calculating your intake history. A nutrient with a 7-day storage period means your average over the past week matters more than any single day. This affects how rankings account for what you ate yesterday versus last Tuesday.

Default is 6 days, range is 1 to 365. The defaults already reflect the biology, but you can change them if a healthcare provider gives you specific guidance about nutrient timing. Access this from any nutrient’s options menu under Edit Storage.

Pinning Favorites

Pin any nutrient from its row and it collects in the Pinned tab for quick access. Useful if you’re actively monitoring a handful of nutrients and don’t want to dig through category tabs every time. The tab starts empty.

Adding and Removing Nutrients

If a nutrient doesn’t have a target yet, look for the “Nutrients to Add” section at the bottom of each category tab. Adding one activates tracking and places it in the proper section above.

To stop tracking a nutrient, clear both its target and limit values and save. It drops back to “Nutrients to Add.”

Ways to Express Targets

When you edit a target value, there are three ways to express it depending on the nutrient and your situation.

Absolute amounts are fixed daily amounts in grams, milligrams, or micrograms. This is what most health authorities use. If your doctor says “100g protein daily” or blood work shows you need 18mg iron, enter those numbers directly.

Percentage of energy expresses a target relative to your daily calorie intake. Useful for macronutrients where the absolute amount should scale with how much you eat. The standard ranges: protein 10-35%, carbohydrates 45-65%, fat 20-35%. When you set a target as a percentage, it recalculates automatically if your energy target changes. The math: Target (g) = (Calories x Percentage) / Calories per gram. Protein and carbs are 4 calories per gram, fat is 9.

Per kilogram of body weight scales a target with your body size. Mainly useful for protein, where needs vary by activity level:

Situation	Protein (g/kg)
Sedentary (minimum)	0.8
Recreationally active	1.0-1.2
Endurance athlete	1.2-1.6
Strength training	1.6-2.2
Weight loss (preserving muscle)	1.8-2.2

When set per kilogram, the target updates when your weight changes.

Upper Limits

Upper limits (ULs) represent the maximum daily intake unlikely to cause harm. Most people should not raise these. The main reason to lower one would be a healthcare provider’s recommendation for a specific condition, like reducing sodium for hypertension or limiting potassium for kidney disease. Raising limits above the authority default should only happen under medical supervision.

When to Customize

If your healthcare provider has given you specific numbers, enter them. Same for verified deficiencies from blood tests or training requirements for athletes. Be cautious about customizing without professional input, especially for children and adolescents where growth makes needs harder to predict.

Resetting to Defaults

You can reset all targets to defaults for your chosen guideline authority. This wipes out every custom target and recalculates from your profile details. Can’t undo it, so be sure.