When I first started in the gym, finding a protein bar was quite rare. You would find some protein bars in supplement stores like Holland & Barrett
(limited selection, and tasted like chalk), or in your gym if you were lucky. Today, it’s very different. Every store has a selection of protein bars, most are delicious, and everyone from busy desk jockeys to serious athletes eats them.
The question is: are protein bars a good choice?
To answer this, we have to consider the three primary pillars.
1.) Health
2.) Performance
3.) Body Composition
At Triage, we view the optimal decision to be that
which contributes to all three. If a decision contributes to two of three, that’s great. If a decision only contributes to two, that’s okay too. But, if a decision is detrimental to all three pillars, that’s generally not a decision we want to make regularly.
Health
Protein bars are mostly neutral-to-positive for health, with a couple of exceptions. Due to the higher protein and fibre content versus many other snack options, along with the high protein-to-calorie ratio,
protein bars are likely to support the control of total caloric intake, along with other protein and fibre-related health effects (e.g. muscle mass, glucose regulation, gut health).
However, for
individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), some of the fibres and sugar alcohols can provoke symptoms of abdominal pain, cramping, bloating, flatulence, and diarrhoea. Some without IBS may be susceptible to this too, and this effect is most often dose-dependent, i.e. one protein bar might be fine, but three may be risky. If one was to consume multiple protein bars per day everyday, total sugar content of the diet and/or sweeteners, may end up quite high, which could be a net negative for
other health targets such as dental health.
Overall, within the context of reasonable consumption (e.g. 1-2 protein bars per day), I cannot see any reason why one would experience a clinically
significant negative health effect, with the exception of short-term gut side effects for those with IBS or other pre-existing gastrointestinal conditions.
Performance
Minor components of one’s diet do not tend to have significant positive or negative effects on performance. Insofar as consuming protein bars impact overall protein content of the diet, they could support better recovery, less muscle protein breakdown, and greater muscle gains. This effect would be
protein-dependent rather than being specific to this source of protein, of course.
The only potential downside to performance would be the aforementioned gastrointestinal symptoms, and if you do have a
tendency to bloat, have a lot of gas etc., I would simply suggest not consuming protein bars in the pre-workout window.
Body
Composition
Protein bars are likely to be positive for body composition in most cases, both in terms of fat loss and muscle gain. The only exception here would be if a particular bar is so palatable as to drive excessive caloric consumption (which isn’t totally unreasonable given how tasty some bars are these days). This is unlikely when
compared to other similar snacks, as both protein and fibre contribute to satiety (they keep you full), and this is why I would suggest protein bars are likely to be a neutral-to-positive inclusion in a fat loss diet.
Similarly, for muscle gain, most protein bars these days contain good protein sources (e.g. milk, whey, etc.), but you should look out for cheaper bars that sometimes contain a significant quantity of collagen protein, which is not as effective for muscle gain. With that said, protein bars should be making up no more than 10-20% of total protein content of your diet on average (e.g. 1 bar per day at 20g protein with 150g protein target = 13%), so once your diet as a whole is of
decent quality, I wouldn’t be too worried about this.
Summary
To summarise, I think people probably worry too much about avoiding all ‘processed foods’. While I would never advise consuming protein bars as your protein source at every meal, nor I would suggest that a protein bar is the best source of protein (or calories generally), consuming them as part of an otherwise healthful diet is neutral-to-positive in my view. With that said, I also wouldn’t want someone to feel
that they have to always choose protein bars vs regular chocolate. It’s fine to have some chocolate in your diet, and if you feel intense guilt at eating 200 calories of milk chocolate, but the fact that a bar says ‘high protein’ mitigates that, I’d probably try to work on some of those beliefs around food.
At Triage, we have no horse in the race. We are not affiliated with any protein bar brands or anything. These are just our honest perspectives formed via nutrition science and extensive nutrition coaching experience. We have learned over time that over-restriction can be quite harmful, and we find that having a diet that is enjoyable works best long term.
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