Energy Bars
Most of these bars can be classified as low fat, high carbohydrate (CHO), but
a few are making claims for improved endurance sports performance with a
higher fat content, some approaching a 40%/30%/30% CHO, Protein, Fat
content. Each manufacturer has his own nutrition axe to grind and these
bars sport varying amounts of sodium, potassium, chromium and other
nutrients (much as the sports drinks have different approaches to
replenishing electrolytes).
They come in a variety of flavors covering typically chocolate, vanilla,
apple, and banana, as well as other fruit flavors. They are not a gourmet
treat, or in general even a good candy bar - in summer heat they are soft
enough to manage easily (they all seem to come wrapped in foil packages -
trust me, leave them there - unwrapping them and adding them to a ziploc bag
of other munchies can create something of a mess after an hour or so). In
colder weather they probably make extra entertainment money for your dentist,
with a consistancy somewhere between wax and turkish taffy. I have
actually tried a few of these (the first time in desperation on a benefit
ride when there were no sources of complex CHO around) and I have found the
fruit flavors to be more reasonable than the chocolate or vanilla.
The numbers below can best be described as "variable". The CHO and sugar
content changes a fair amount with the different flavors. In some cases the
nutritional content was published as a average value in a catalog or
article, some are single values, or ranges of values, from samples I
obtained. Not all have the full Nutrition Facts labels (which makes you
wonder how long they have been on the shelf - hmmmmmmmmmm, maybe that's why
they are so hard to chew), but the FDA doesn't require that grams or
percentages be listed for much of the additional nutritional additives.
ALSO, remember that for those showing SUGAR, that this includes all the mono
and di-saccharides, which will mostly be glucose and fructose here - and
that the glycemic index of these two sugars is VERY different, and I have
not been able to find information on what percentage of the sugars is
fructose.
Many of the high CHO bars can be best described as a bagel with
some extra sugar (or raisins) as far as nutrition goes. I personally prefer
to take along a bagel and some fruit, and maybe some baby carrots when I go
out for a 2+ hour bike ride. But this requires a fair sized pack, and a
little belly bag or a shirt with pockets may be all many other people would
be willing to haul around and in that case these may be just what you are
looking for to stave off the hungries or to fuel those legs for another
hour.
--------grams---------- ---mg---
Bar Cal CHO Sugar Pro Fat Na K+
~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~
Balance 180 18 13 7
Body Bar 219 49 5 0
BTU Stoker 252 48 14 10 3 60
Carbo Crunch 180 18 9 4
Clif Bar 250 51 15 5 2 55 256
Edgebar 250 50 23 10 0 100
Energy Stick 120 21 5 2
Energize 144 32 4 0
Exceed 280 53 12 2
Forza 230 44 11 1
GatorBar 220 49 3 2
Nutrablast 170 23 11 5
PR Bar 180 21 14 6
Performance Energy 220 43 21 10 2 25
PowerBar 225 42 16 10 2.5 90 120
ProSports 240 40 15 1
PurePower 240 42 12 3
Thunder bar 220 44 10 2
Tiger Sport 230 41 5 4
Tiger Milk 175 20 16 10 6 90
X-Trnr 240 42 22 10 2 65
For a comparison, the new SnackWells Cereal Bar (a sort of fruit fig bar)
120 28 15 1 0 105
and now entering the fray, the carbo-gel packets:
Gatorade ReLode 80 20 0 0 25
Pocket Rocket 92 23 0 0 50
GU Gel 100 25 0 0 20
These are faster fuel supposedly, since they are basically nothing but
carbohydrates, and come in packets that provide about half the CHO of
the typical energy bars. They are certainly easier to get down (just
squeeze and swallow)
MarC
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