WASHINGTON — You might as well be eating a candy bar if you don’t read the labels on energy bars with care, warns a leading consumers group that also advises that preferred ingredients include fruit and nuts.
“[Energy bars are] foods that are loaded with health claims on the label and some of them aren’t as healthy as you might think they are,” said Trisha Calvo, Consumer Reports’ deputy editor for health and food.
Consumer Reports evaluated 33 energy bars and rated them for taste and nutrition because “two-thirds of Americans eat them at least some of the time,” Calvo said.
Who knew there were so many versions of what’s essentially “added sugar”?
Agave syrup, brown rice syrup, corn syrup, fruit juice concentrate, honey, glucose and tapioca syrup are ingredients that Calvo said you should be keeping to a minimum in your diet.
Some label readers who see the simple ingredient “sugar” up high might not continue reading down the list to see many other added sweeteners that can contribute a significant amount of added sugars.
“Really, what you want is fruit,” Calvo said.
She recommends energy bars that have dates or some other kind of fruit as a base and include no added sugars at all.
Don’t be fooled by added protein and fiber
Calvo warns added fiber and added protein frequently come in processed forms, such as chicory root fiber or isolated soy protein.
“In our tests, we found that the ones that were both the most nutritious and the ones that tasted the best were the ones that had little if any of those kinds of ingredients in them,” Calvo said.
Best in the tests
The top berry bar is the Pure Organic Wild Blueberry Fruit and Nut Bar. That got a Consumer Reports rating of Very Good for nutrition and Very Good for taste.
The top chocolate bar was Nature’s Path Organic Superfood Dark Chocolate Peanut snack bar. That earned a Consumer Reports rating of Good for nutrition and Very Good for taste.
Another bar that Calvo said did very well, in that it tasted great and earned a Good rating for nutrition, was the Kind Peanut Butter Chocolate bar.
Other considerations for your best bar options: Consumer Reports recommends they have between 150 and 200 calories, three to six grams of protein and three grams of fiber.
