What protein bars out there are can I trust for real quality and real protein amount? I currently use Pro42 bars. They taste great and it says they contain 42g of protein which I’m not to sure of. Worldwide I know are very poor quality as well as labrada(now). I stay away from any supplements that you can find in a 7-eleven or normal grocery store because if they are sold there, the quality has to be poor. I don’t think Biotest would ever allow there products to be sold anywhere like that the way EAS does. Please help with which bars I can trust. At least until ADVANCED PROTEIN BARS come out. If they ever do, its been a year almost with no word of anything.
What makes you say that Labrada is poor quality? Why don’t you compare the first 4 or so ingredients (the protein composition) of the Labrada bars against all the others and then come back and tell me what you discovered…
Pro42 is a good quality bar. I use Promax bars and love the taste and I know for a fact they work. Just don’t let them become a large part of your daily nutrition. Keep the real foods coming in and only use them if you must. With real food you know what your getting. Good luck. FTM (Feed The Machine)
Be careful about consuming to many protein bars
I work in a supplement store that carries a very wide selection of bars and every single one of them contains soy protein and many of them list soy first in the ingredients indicating that there is more soy than whey or casein. You would probably also be better of buying bars with a protein content of approx 20 grams and make sure to check the ingredients if the bar contains hydrolyzed gelatin that is included in the amount of protein listed on the bar and it’s crap.
On the one hand, it usually works out that
you’re right that products sold in mass-market
outlets aren’t very good.
This isn’t so because it HAS to be so, but
is generally true since such outlets demand
to receive products at very large discounts from retail, and this tends to force manufacturers to shave production costs so as to make any profit out of the deal at all.
Secondly, products don’t make it into these outlets unless there are millions of customers. This tends to be the case much moreso for mediocre or mid-grade products than for particularly high quality products. But that doesn’t mean that a higher priced, premium quality product CAN’T succeed in supermarkets and so forth – for example, there are some quite good ice creams available in supermarkets, not just the generic junk. (I’m not an ice cream expert so for all I know, perhaps nothing truly premium is available, but not knowing any better, the better supermarket stuff is good to me, and certainly far better than the staple brands.)
So I wouldn’t rule out a product JUST because it appears in the supermarket. For example, I use Met-Rx Protein Plus bars sometimes, and in no way do I see it as a disadvantage that I can pick them up in the supermarket.
Hey, about those lil’ bars they make a good food supplement and all…but i really don’t think they are all that. Even though i gained 8 pounds in 3 weeks; i don’t think it had to do with the bars rather it was the eating. My point is that most bars are crap. The ones i was eating were premier eight. If i were you just eat a high protein diet and drink your protein shakes even though they are not as convinient as the bars they supply you with casein and whey which are considered to be very good forms of protein while most bars give very lil of that and alot of soy protein and all that other stuff. Even if you can only gobble one shake a night its still cool, plus you got your vitamins included with the shakes. If you are still gonna eat the bars try Premier Eight…they taste good and are low in carbs and sugars and have only 5 g of fat.
Bill, I remember some old posts mentioning Biotest may be releasing a protein bar. Any validity to this? I’m not sure if it was an employee who said it. Just curious…
Racer, you’re dreaming if you think that Labrada (Lean Body) bars are anything special. They are no better and no worse than 80% of the bars out there.
I have also wondered the samething, while in my grocery store no less. I thought that I would give them a look see just to find out what they had in them. Out of them all, the Met-Rx didn’t have any soy protien at all and had the most calories. 370 Cal I do believe and I think around 30 or so grams of Protien. I tried the Choc/Chip bar, it was decent, although I personally think any protien, Mrp bar tastes like a tire.
- Gerald
Ok, bro. Here are the ingredients for Lean Body bars just as they appear on the wrapper (after reading the first five, skip to the end for my explanation).
Ingredients:LeanPro™ Protein Blend [Unique Blend Of Proplete (Calcium Caseinate, Milk Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein Concentrate, Hydrolyzed Whey Protein), Milk Chocolate Flavored Coating [Sugar, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Nonfat Milk, Cocoa (Processed With Alkali), Dextrose, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor], Hydrolyzed Gelatin, Glycerine, Water, Maltitol Syrup, Natural Flavor, Maltodextrin, Blueberry Flavored Filling, (Sugar, Blueberries, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Apple Powder, Water, Glycerine, Modified Food Starch, Natural Flavor, Pectin, Locust Bean Gum, Red Cabbage Juice Added For Color), Blueberry Flavored Fruit Pieces (Sugar, Cranberries, Grape Juice Concentrate, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Sunflower Oil), Vitamin & Mineral Blend (Contains- Dicalcium Phosphate, Magnesium Oxide, Vitamin A Palmitate, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin E Acetate, Niacinamide, Ferrous Fumarate, Zinc Oxide, Pantothenic Acid, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Copper Gluconate, Cholecalciferol, Riboflavin, Thiamin Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Potassium Iodide, Vitamin D3, Vitamin B12 ), Canola Oil, Sugar, Blueberry Puree From Concentrate, Dextrose, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Citric Acid, Sucralose, Malic Acid, Sodium Citrate.
EXPLANATION: Ok, now understand that I am going by the information as it is presented because I have no actual idea what they put in their bars. Therefore, assuming that their information is correct, the whole bar contains 31g of protein. Now, on label claims a company is REQUIRED to list ingredients in the order of most prominent to least prominent. Now, since there are 5 different proteins or 5 different ingredients, and since there is a total of 31g of protein among these ingredients, then simple math tells us that if all of the ingredients were EQUAL (which they aren't)then each protein would be contributing 6 grams. However, since they are not equal we can assume, for a moment, that the first ingredient has at least 7 grams in order to be the dominant first ingredient. That leaves us to conclude that each of the 4 remaining proteins have at least 6 grams of protein (unless the first ingredient has more than 7 grams). But, there is a catch: hydrolized proteins are not utilized by the body so we can pretty much subtract them from the total protein content. Since the hydrolized protein is the 5th out of 5 ingredients, its "damage" is minimized as opposed to if it were first or second, as are many high-protein bars (just check the ingredients). So, having said all this I am not saying that LaBrada bars are anything "special" as you previously indicated, but that if we are to go according to the claims on the label then LaBrada is a protein bar that, in a pinch, seems ok. By the way, it also has no soy protein.
If you’ll look at an EAS product at GNC and the same product at Wal-mart, you’ll see a difference in the ingredients. It seems the products are cheapened, at least some of them, when put in big retail outlets. Might be the same for grocery stores too. Just read labels closely. I know some staff member from T-mag said something about EAS making some batches exclusivley for Wal-mart and the quality isn’t as good.
Racer: Sorry bro, but your analysis is slightly off… in order for companies (like Biotest, LaBreda, EAS and just about every other one out there) to protect some intellectual property, the quantities in parentesis do NOT have to be listed in order, and generally are not. So, the protien blend IS the highest quantity ingredient, but each of the protiens that make up the blend can be listed in any order. In fact, generally the “best” one is listed first, although it may be the least plentiful in the blend (this is such a scam in this industry, isn’t it?). So, your hydrolized protien may actually be the highest quantity, giving little value at all to the bar.
Thank you guys for all your input. I guess I’ll stick with what I like until Biotest releases their protein bar(hopefully soon). I really don’t rely on bars for meals, but sometimes its the only the only thing I can put inside my body. I’ll eat 2-3 bars a week if any. I just want to make sure that I am not just eating a snickers bar in disguise. Hey Bill R.! How about some a list of some bars that you and the rest of the T-Staff consume and know that are good or decent that we can buy until we see ADVANCED PROTEIN BARS.
Thanks!
The majority of bars utilize thier main source of protein as “hydrolyed protein”. Hydrolyzed protein is F-in!! Cow Hoofs. The only bar I know that doesnt have that is Designer whey bar
Yes, the designer protien bars are supposedly one of the better ones on the market in terms of the quality of protien in it (they don’t taste too bad too). They still have glycerol as a “filler” and play the same game that “it’s not a carbohydrate”. BTW Jimbo, it’s better to eat the bar then skip a meal
when your busy. There’s been a couple of articles I think about bars, and I remember one reference saying that when some of the staff is really busy (like at shows), thats about all they eat!
Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t hydrolyzed whey protein the same as whey protein hydrosylate? If this is true then the protein in Surge would be considered low quality according to the forum here. However, whey protein hydrosylate is considered just as high quality as any other whey protein. It is simply predigested so it will absorp quicker, which is why it is included in Surge. The protein you need to watch out for is hydrolyzed collagen, which is definately lower quality than whey.
Check lab corp.com they test supplements and there you should find which bars that they recently tested passed, I do recall original met-rx bars being on the list. now this low carb bars will never make the list because of how glycerol shows up on a test, but soon all bar companies will be listing the amount of glyceine. I say go with the mrp’s pver bars, seem to have much better quality ingredients. also its now true that all bars contain soy, though many do.
I don’t think it’s hydrolyzed proteins that are unusable by the body, but just hydrolyzed GELATIN proteins.