the most asked question I get in my private practice AND in the hospital it which protein bar is best? there are SO many brands, and I definitely am not familiar with all of them, but these 3 are my favourite in ingredients and taste.
RXBAR
simple ingredients in all of their bars, and the chocolate sea salt does not disappoint with 12g of protein and 5g of fibre. there is 2g of saturated fats, BUT this is from the cashews. there’s a lot of controversy surrounding saturated fat due to how we react to long chain vs short chain ones, and the kinds found in plant vs animals. disclaimer: I greatly dislike the taste of these bars as there is no flavour in my opinion! the source of sweetness is from dates, and in my opinion is not enough to balance the flavour profile. if you’re looking for minimalist ingredients, then this bar is for you.
aloha bar
my favourite of the line up. I love the taste and mouthfeel, and find it actually fills me up for 1-2 hours, where all other protein bars I have tried (except one other) still left me hungry. the peanut butter chocolate chip bar has 14g protein and 10g fibre! also 3g of saturated fat (from the peanuts and pumpkin seeds). there are more ingredients in this bar, but the ingredients are ones you will find in most other popular brands. the sweetness comes from the tapioca syrup and cane sugar (I personally believe if you are going for sweet, go for the real stuff – as long as you have no medical blood sugar issues). both mentioned Aloha bar and the RXBAR contain sea salt, but the Aloha bar has about half as much as the RXBAR. If you’re watching your sodium intakes, want more fibre (and better taste IMO) the Aloha bar will be the better pick.
resist bar
these are newer on the market, and I was introduced to them by meeting one of the founders. the concept is cool – a protein bar for people WITH blood sugar issues. I’ve tried them all, and the only one I like is the goji berry due it’s palatability and mouthfeel; the other ones are just too chalky. 3.5g of saturated fats (from the almond butter and MCT oil), 14g protein, and a whopping 15g of fibre. this is also the only other bar that has every kept me full. the sweetness here comes from allulose and monk fruit, and perhaps a hint from the unsweetened dried cherries. allulose occurs naturally in select foods, making it a rare sugar. the chemical structure of allulose is what makes it different than sucrose (table sugar). it has less calories than regular sugar, and is eliminated from the body without being used as fuel and doesn’t appear to raise blood sugar or insulin levels. this would be a good option if you live with blood sugar issues.
the Environmental Working Group (https://www.ewg.org/) scores the mentioned Aloha bars a 5/10, as well the the mentioned RXBAR. There is no score the the Resist bars.
BPA content
BPA is unfortunately present in a lot f food packaging. I had a hard time confirming if BPA is present in any of the packaging, but the Resist bars claim to have BPA free packaging, and say on their website, that RXBAR and Aloha might not. BPA can bind to estrogen receptors, and exert hormone mimicking effects, which may effect health in an adverse way.
If you want to give them a try, try the RXBAR here, the Aloha here, and the Resist here!
resources:
Elsevier. “Not all saturated fats are equal when it comes to heart health.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 January 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/01/190128105230.htm>.
Xia, Yu, et al. “Research advances of D-allulose: An overview of physiological functions, enzymatic biotransformation technologies, and production processes.” Foods 10.9 (2021): 2186.Tomoya, Shintani, et al. “Rare Sugar Syrup Containing d-Allulose but Not High-Fructose Corn Syrup Maintains Glucose Tolerance and Insulin Sensitivity Partly via Hepatic Glucokinase Translocation in Wistar Rats.” (2017).
Cimmino, Ilaria, et al. “Potential mechanisms of bisphenol A (BPA) contributing to human disease.” International journal of molecular sciences 21.16 (2020): 5761.
