You might be tempted to reach for a nutrition bar when you're running around after work dropping the kids off at sports practices and shopping for tonight's dinner. Nutrition bars are sometimes labeled as "energy" bars and packaged to make you believe that they are a healthy alternative to meals. However, such advertising gimmicks make promises that a bar can't necessarily satisfy.
'Energy' Means Calories
Seeing the word "energy" on nutrition bar labels may lead you to believe that eating a bar would boost your energy levels and help you tackle a busy day. However, the marketers of nutrition bars know that "energy" can also refers to calories: The amount of "energy" in a food is how many calories it contains. Foods such as broccoli and chocolate candies also contain "energy" in that sense of the word. Nutrition bar marketers aim to convince consumers that they are getting more than calories.
Pros and Cons
Eating a nutrition bar is generally healthier than grabbing lunch from the average vending machine. Most nutrition bars contain up to 5 g of fiber, have little to no saturated and trans fats and are fortified with vitamins and minerals, as Elizabeth Applegate, a nutritionist at the University of California at Davis, mentions in "Nutrition Action Health Letter." However, nutrition bars won't ever be healthier than a well-balanced meal of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy and lean protein. Some are healthier than others, but many contain excessive doses of sugar and some do contain unhealthy fats.
Reading the Label
The type of nutrition bar you choose matters. Carefully inspect the label to ensure that the product you are about to eat doesn't contain partially hydrogenated oils -- "trans fats" -- or palm kernel oil, and minimal to no sugar alcohols such as sorbitol and mannitol. A true "nutrition" bar should have at least 3 g of fiber, about 10 to 15 g of protein and contain a small amount of sugar, which is present in nutrition bars in varied forms such as sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup and dextrose. The American Heart Association recommends that women take in no more than about 25 g of added sugars in one day and that men have no more than about 37.5 g; this amounts to about 6 tsp. for women and 9 tsp. for men.
Considerations
Moderate your intake of nutrition bars. Don't allow them to stand in for a full meal every day or replace an entire food group in your diet. A truly nutritious diet should provide at least three meals and a couple of healthy snacks per day from a balanced range of food groups, putting "extras" such as sugar on the back burner. When you do replace a meal with a nutrition bar, eat it alongside at least one real food, such as a piece of fruit or serving of yogurt.
References
- American Heart Association: Association Recommends Reduced Intake of Added Sugars
- Nutrition Action Health Letter: Bar Exam: Energy Bars Flunk
- MedlinePlus: Weight Control
- MyOptumHealth.com: Energy Bars: Nutritious Meal Replacement or Glorified Candy?
- Center for Young Women's Health: Healthy Eating
- The Nemours Foundation: Energy Drinks and Food Bars: Power or Hype?
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