Guest guest Posted January 26, 2002 Report Share Posted January 26, 2002 Consumerlabs.com recently ran a snippit of a study they did on Protein, energy and meal replacement bars and how many were mislabeled. To get the full results, one has to pay for membership, but since I can't afford too many websites at once, I'm wondering if anyone has the full results of this study? <http://www.consumerlab.com/results/nutbars.asp> This article also brought up the quesiton of glycerin and how glycerin laden bars often go under the " low carb " heading despite the FDA's belief that they are considered a carb. So, since the big concern of carbs is the insulin peak/fat storage combo, does glycerin have the effect on the GI or should it not be considered a carb at all? Chip Conrad Sacramento, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 27, 2002 Report Share Posted January 27, 2002 The only protein bars I " believe " in are those EAS Advantage lowcarb bars. I say this because when I travel and thus consume a lot of protein bars, I don't lose mass or strength if I eat EAS bars as meals. But when I substitute meals with other protein bars, I definately begin feeling a loss of muscle density. I would love to see an in the body study where a bodybuilder consumes only one type of protein bar. He or she would still consume the same amount of calories and grams of protein as he had been getting from real food and MRP's. We would use the label claim on protein bars as gospel in determing how many calories the person is consuming. Something tells me this bodybuilder would lose much muscle if he trusted the labels. Yet another reason to save your money by making your own bars. Anyhow, what experiences have others had with protein bars? Which bars, if any, do you consider a suitable substitute for a real food or MRPs? Christian Cernovich Malibu, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2002 Report Share Posted January 28, 2002 >> I'd just like to start by saying that the big concern with carbs (with > respect to body composition) is not the insulin spike. If you eat > frequently throughout the day stable blood sugar levels should not be a > problem. The big problem with carbs is that it's easy to eat so damn > many of them. Most people could easily knock back a stack of ten " fat > free " pancakes topped with maple syrup. An equivalent pile of eggs > probably has less calories and at the same time would be much more > difficult to eat. *****Right. But the big fear I hear from people all the time when they embark on carb restriction is the " insulin-promotes-fat-storage " and carbs-promote-insulin, therefore.... > > Anyway back the main point glycerin has a negligible effect on insulin. > Technically it's considered a carb simply by virtue of the fact that it > is not fat or protein (anything not a fat or a protein is a carb by FDA > standards). Most bars have some sort of disclaimer saying " Glycerin is > not a carb but has a caloric value of 4.xx calories per gram " . > > On a side note some may wonder why companies use glycerin in their > protein bars. Basically a truly low carb (glycerin free) protein bar has > the texture of cement...dried cement (trust me I've tried!). So they add > glycerin which helps retain moisture and give the bars that chewy > texture. > > Don Nguyen > Sydney, Australia ***** Thanks, that helps. Is glycerin therefore more satiating than the traditional carb? From the little I know of how it is used in the body, it seems like we'd be left hungrier quicker, hence defeating the purpose. Chip Conrad Sacramento, CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 28, 2002 Report Share Posted January 28, 2002 Chip Conrad wrote: Since the big concern of carbs is the insulin peak/fat storage combo, does glycerin have the effect on the GI or should it not be considered a carb at all? **** I did a lot of searching for an answer to this a couple of years ago. The answer seems to be that although glycerine is really a sugar alcohol and has 4.3 calories/gram, it should be counted as a carbohydrate by the person consuming it. I also understand that there is no technology currently available that will allow manufacture of these bars without glycerine; they would be like stones. The best advice is to make your own. Take a look at the archives for Siff (Ziv) Bars, which rate a No.1 on the Gagh Scale! [Note that a maximum rating of 10 indicates that any self-respecting Klingon would love it, but no human could really tolerate it. Most commercial energy and protein bars seem to have Gagh Ratings of over 6 and cost 5-6 times as much as my alternative. Mel Siff] Rosemary Wedderburn-Vernon Marina del Rey, CA IronRoses@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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