Weighing in on Energy Bars

While a previous post shared our editorial staff's opinions on the best energy and protein bars, we thought we'd get a little more scientific. 

With so many bars now available, it's easy to find a few to like.  And while different situations, diets and tastes demand different bars, many of us rely upon the nutrition profile to make a selection.  But just like with cereals, serving sizes (and calories) are not created equal.  For example, one cup of Kellogg's Low-Fat Granola (sans the raisins) has 375 calories as compared to one cup of Kashi's Heart to Heart which has 138.   BUT, the comparison isn't fair nor that meaningful unless you consider other factors such as weight.  The denser granola 1 cup weighs in at 98 grams versus the light weight Heart to Heart at 41 grams. 

So calorie for calorie what does it mean?  Each granola gram packs 3.83 calories versus Kashi's 3.36.  It seems negligible, right?  Well, the answer depends upon you consumption objective.  If you've just completed a race or killer workout, the granola may be a better choice to get calories in fast.  With the Heart to Heart, you'd have to eat nearly 3x as much to get the same calories.  Any hard core athlete will tell you, they get bored before they get full. 

But for those who really enjoy the eating process, are counting calories and want that full feeling, Kashi is a clear winner.  

The same logic can be applied to energy and protein bars.   Of course, the nutrition behind each calorie will differ across bars and will likely be important to the buying decision (e.g., protein, sugar, fiber, carbs, etc.).  But since most energy bars deliver a decent nutrition profile seeing how they stack up in a new way may help your buying decision.  You can apply this method to any nutrition category, not just calories. 
  
DATA SORTED ACCORDING TO CALORIES
 

DATA SORTED ACCORDING TO CALORIES/WEIGHT (same flavors as above)
 

Notes:
1.       Sugar grams include sugar alcohols
2.       Flavors matter.  Some bars differ among flavors!  For example the Lara Bar ranges in calories from 190 to 230 and in size from 45 to 51 grams. 
3.       We added more bars than we covered in our other post for comparison purposes 

Conclusion:  If you're picky about what you consume, comparing bars can be helpful.  If you would like our excel chart to sort by other criteria, let us know and we'll email it to you.