Are nutrition bars healthy?

Given their label you’d kind of expect that “nutrition” bars would be nutritious.

That’s probably why 33 million households in the United States buy nutrition bars and shakes on a regular basis.

But do American’s really know what they are eating?

According to a recent survey by Kelton Research of 1,000 individuals the answer is a no.

Quick. which has more sugar — a Clif Bar (crunchy peanut butter) or a Krispy Kreme doughnut?

Well, it turns out the Clif Bar has almost twice as much sugar (18 grams) as the doughnut (10 grams). If you got this wrong, don’t feel bad. More than 50% of the respondents in the survey also were incorrect.

So which product is healthier? Since sugar, along with calories and fat, ranks in the top three most important things people look for on a nutrition label, you might expect people would say the Krispy Kreme doughnut.

What?? How could a doughnut be healthier than a “nutrition” bar.

It’s not. In fact, neither product is “healthier” than the other. The reality is that all REAL foods are “healthy,” so we should worry a lot less about which foods are good and which foods are bad.

The question isn’t if a food is healthy or not healthy — instead, when selecting which foods to eat, you should consider the REALNESS of the food and if you are selecting a wide variety of foods.

When I look at a doughnut or a nutrition bar, the first thing I consider is if the item is a REAL food. In other words, is it made up of substances that otherwise exist in nature (e.g., real sugar, real fat) or are its components fabricated (e.g., high fructose corn syrup, trans fat)? I’m pretty sure my body can deal with REAL foods since humans have been exposed to these substances for millions of years. However, I’m much less confident that the human physiology knows what to do with these manufactured substances that have only been around for a few decades.

If I really want a doughnut, I eat one. But I look for a doughnut that’s made the way my grandmother made doughnuts — that consist of real foods and that taste wonderful.

As far as nutrition bars, I must say that my body rarely (actually never) craves such a product — so I rarely eat them. But, if I ever did, I’d look for one made with real foods which, in my experience, is hard to find.

One more thing — guess who sponsored this survey about the sugar content of nutrition bars? It was Atkins Nutritionals — the maker of “nutrition” bars that are promoted as having less sugar than most brands but “packed with protein and fiber.” Their goal in funding this study was to convince people to read food labels and pick the nutrition bar with less sugar because that will be the “healthier” bar.

They should be ashamed.

Allen Oelschlaeger
Author of Finally, the Straight Scoop About Weight, Nutrition, and Fitness