Are Quest Bars Really as Nourishing as Claimed?
Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more from Fooducate community members about Quest Bars. They seem to be tasty, they have actually a nutrition that is impressive panel, and someone on their group is performing a kick ass job in marketing.
quest bar coupon
Quest promotes itself as the “#1 Protein Bar” as well as very first impression the nutrition numbers look really impressive. Simply Take, for example, the Vanilla Almond Crunch Protein Bar. It’s a bar that is 200-calorie but just has half a gram of saturated fat. It’s got 20 grams of protein, which is 40% of the recommended daily intake. The dietary fiber count is super high at 18 grams, almost three fourths of the daily requirement. Most Americans lack woefully in fibre intake; here a person can erase a single bar to her deficit. Quest sells itself as low carb solution, claiming just 2-6 “net carbs”. Indeed, only 22 grams of carbs, of which 18 are fiber, and just 1 gram of sugars. Amazing.
But then you take a glance at the list that is ingredient and the household of cards comes crumbling down. This product has “gamed” the nutrition facts panel by utilizing ingredients that are food-like compose the bar. Let’s take a good look at the Ingredient list:
Protein blend (whey protein isolate, milk protein isolate), isomalto-oligosaccharides, almonds, water, normal flavors, ocean salt, lo han guo, sucralose.
First the pros: It is a short list.
Now for the problems. The protein sources aren't something you'll make at home or buy from a farmer. Whey protein isolate milk protein isolates are a byproduct of cheese production. Body builders buy them in powdered form to enhance food and beverage. In some instances, they may cause problems that are digestive as bloating, cramps, and gas.
Next are the isomalto-oligosaccharides (IMO), the source of fiber into the bar. It is a syrupy goop that tastes somewhat sweet but is not considered a sugar since it is a long chain molecule. In factories by applying enzymes to various starch sources although it is found naturally in fermented foods, it is much cheaper to manufacture it. The situation with ingesting 18 grams of this IMO, is that it feeds just a small subset of our gut bacteria.
a variety of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains provides a much better fibre profile for your digestive system. In our book, IMO is a fake fiber. Incidentally, Quest will be sued now, with the plaintiffs claiming that the actual fiber count is lower than stated in the package.
But we digress.
Whenever we see natural flavors added to an item, we make an effort to imagine just what it might taste like without them. Added flavors are made in labs and provide to mask the not enough taste regarding the other ingredients in the product. Think about this – do you want to add natural tastes to food you prepare at house?
On to sweeteners.
Lo han guo, also known as monk fruit, may be the equivalent that is chinese of. Rather of a leaf, this is a fruit. Monk good fresh fruit extracts, called mogrosides, can be processed to manufacture a powdered sweetener that is 200 times sweeter than sugar.
Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that may or may not cause cancer tumors, bowel illness, and DNA alterations in mice. We understand that despite no added sugars, this bar is pretty sweet because of the addition of processed and sweeteners that are artificial.
Bottom line:
This product is engineered to taste good and look like a nutrition powerhouse. In fact, it is a highly processed product that is food-like we would not consume.