For some time now, I’ve been meaning to bust wide open the truth about these allegedly healthy energy bars and how typically millions of gullible, label-reading-challenged consumers are duped into thinking that they’re good for them.
Well, I was pleasantly surprised when I chanced upon a powerful-information-packed About.com article, entitled "Energy Bar Ingredients Decoded," in which writer Will Glessner rattles off and then decodes the dubious ingredients in a PowerBar Harvest Whole Grain Energy Bar.
In short, Glessner reveals the dirt on the bar and explains how the various ingredients are made.
While the order of the ingredients has slightly changed (not sure when this appeared), Glessner gives the rundown on the product’s main compononents — brown rice syrup, whole oats, rice crisps (milled rice, sugar, salt, barley malt), evaporated cane juice syrup, roasted soy beans, Chocolatey coating (sugar, fractionated Palm Kernel oil and, alkalized cocoa.
Kudos, Glessner, for your great story.
My only reservation with the article is that it fails to mention that "evaporated cane juice syrup" — listed on the label — actually is an illegal descriptor and shouldn’t be used, according to the FDA’s Code of Federal Regulations. This misleading term suggests that the product contains no sugar.
"Sugar is a strictly defined term by the FDA. You must use the designated term," an FDA spokesman told me while I was working on my upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK!"
Alas, the dilemma is that many health food consumers erroneously believe that evaporated cane juice and beet juice are better for them than white sugar. But all of these falsely labeled sugars are metabolized 100 percent identically to white refined sugar, an insider explains. In short, a fancy term can’t hide the fact that a sugar is a sugar is a sugar.
Wanna kick the processed sweet stuff? Jump on the 21-Day Fast-Track, Kick-Sugar Countdown by joining my free, online KickSugar group now.