PowerBar is a line of branded products owned by Nestle. There are 11 PowerBar varieties that can be divided into four categories based on their marketing; energy bars, specialty energy bars, protein bars and reduced nutrition bars. Bagels are a traditional carbohydrate-rich food that are sometimes consumed for their energy content.
Energy Bars
The energy bars, in order of greatest to least number of calories per bar, are PowerBar Harvest, PowerBar Performance PowerBar Fruit Smoothie Energy, and PowerBar Nut Naturals. PowerBar Harvest has 250 calories per bar, the most of any bar in this category, while PowerBar Nut Naturals has 210 calories, the least in this category. PowerBar Performance and PowerBar Fruit Smoothie Energy have 230 and 220 calories per bar, respectively.
Protein Bars
Another type of PowerBar product is marketed for its protein content and role in muscle building. These include, in order of greatest to least number of calories per bar, PowerBar Protein Plus 30g, PowerBar Protein Plus and PowerBar Recovery. The 30g protein bar has 360 total calories, the most of any PowerBar bar. Protein Plus has 300 calories and Recovery has 250 calories.
Specialty Energy
PowerBar markets two energy-type bars for special features besides their caloric content. PowerBar Triple Threat supposedly "tastes like a candy bar," but is still a nutritious choice for moderate-intensity sports or exercise. One Triple Threat bar contains 220 calories. PowerBar Pure and Simple is marketed in the opposite direction, towards health-conscious consumers looking to avoid trans fat, high fructose corn syrup and "artificial anything." Each Pure and Simple bar has 130 calories.
Reduced Nutrition
The other category of PowerBar bars includes Pria and PowerBar Protein Plus Reduced Sugar. Pria is presented as a bar designed for women's nutritional needs without "weighing them down." Each Pria has 110 calories, the fewest of any PowerBar bar. Protein Plus Reduced Sugar is aimed at bodybuilders who want the protein without the excess calories, but with its increased fat content it doesn't afford much caloric savings. Protein Plus Reduced Sugar has its sugar content replaced with sugar alcohols and provides the same protein content as a regular Protein Plus, but with only 270 calories.
Bagels
According to Calorie King, a plain bagel has about 3 calories per gram. This means a bagel the size of a PowerBar bar would have about 195 calories. Taking this rough estimate, a bagel has significantly fewer calories per gram than most PowerBar bars, but more than Pria and Pure and Simple. Eating a smaller bagel would reduce the total amount of calories consumed, but any topping added to a bagel or other ingredients added into the bagel will also increase its caloric content.
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