Between a nation wide struggle with obesity and always being on the go, Americans need access to quick and healthy options for meals they are unable to sit down for. The food industry has adapted to this, and introduced numerous power bars, diet bars, protein shakes, and protein shake powder. The companies involved and options they provide have become endless, but is it possible that these ‘fitness foods’ are actually causing people to gain weight?
Both terms ‘diet bar’ and ‘protein bar’ are considered fitness foods, but there’s an important distinction between the two. Although there is no set definition accessible online, a diet bar is generally consumed by people who desire to lose weight. It typically limits carbohydrates and fat, and is a good source of vitamins, protein, and fiber. Defined online, a power bar is, “a brand of bar-shaped food intended for use especially by athletes, having a high carbohydrate and low fat content with protein and vitamin supplements”. It’s important to note that this definition suggests power bar use for athletes, although power bars have become common use for anyone on the go.
This article from Penn State discusses how, “using ‘fitness’ labels on foods may cause consumers to eat more and exercise less”. The study was conducted in two segments: trail mix and exercise. During the trail mix segment, researchers gave participants one bag labeled ‘trail mix’ and one bag labeled ‘fitness’. They then observed, and found that people tended to eat more when they were given the ‘fitness’ bag. The second part of the experiment was focused on exercise. Participants were told they could exercise as vigorously as they wanted on a stationary bike. The study concluded, “the more fitness-branded food eaters consumed, the less active they became. ‘The findings are interesting because this is the first research paper that shows that fitness branding of food does not only affect energy intake but also energy expenditure’ Baumgartner said”. Although these are the first conclusions of their kind, they gained a lot of attention. Throughout researching this topic, I came across this study on four separate websites.
While this study is certainly a step towards proving that diet and protein bars are not as beneficial as they seem, the articles were all lacking in detail about the experiment. I would be interested in knowing how many people participated in this study, what their age and gender are, what they had eaten throughout the day before the study, and whether they had exercised earlier in the day before the study. These are all variables that could affect the outcome of this study.
A separate issue is that some bars are not as healthy as they claim. In March of this year, the FDA issued a warning letter to KIND Company stating that various products were in violation of FDA regulations. The report states, “the product labels bear nutrient content claims, but the products do not meet the requirements to make such claims… none of your products listed above meet the requirements for use of the nutrient content claim ‘healthy’”. This report gathered a lot of media attention because people were surprised that a food commonly thought of as a good choice was now shown to not have the benefits it was claiming. This could happen to any food in grocery stores, and it important to always be aware and check food labels. Calories aren’t the only thing that matter, either; consumers should look at sugar content, fiber content, and the ingredient list as well.
This issue relates back to the first thing we discussed in class: ‘our intuition is lousy’, a lesson that was brought up again during the presentation of the Monty Hall problem. Consumers’ intuition is that products in the grocery store are labeled truthfully and anything that says ‘healthy’ is an immediate good choice. This topic, however, once again proves that intuition is unreliable and people need to be aware of what is in their food. More studies need to be done in order to obtain concrete evidence that diet bars and protein bars do more harm than good, and I am curious to see what other studies are developed regarding this topic in the future.
I’m a big fan of your blog topic because I think that many people are under the wrong impression about diet bars. A lot of them are just loaded with sugar and there are so many healthier alternatives such as fruits and yogurts. I am glad you addressed the variables that the study lacked because it would definitely be hard to classify ALL diet bars as bad when there is a lot to evaluate. Even though I exercise a lot, I am not a big fitness bar eater because I believe that most of them serve as more of a treat. I think it would be really interesting to investigate the power of these bars and have a study on people eating diet bars vs. people eating fruits, vegetables, yogurts, other healthy alternatives. We could see if people exercised longer, more frequently, etc, to see if these bars are doing more harm than good or not. One of the tastiest diet bars is a new and “trendy” one called Quest Bars. They taste delicious, however according to new studies they are indeed an illusion.