Protein bars have become ubiquitous snacks for busy days. Who hasn’t found themselves scarfing down a protein bar in between meetings or in the airport before a flight? In the midst of an ongoing protein craze, the protein bar market was valued at $14.18 billion in 2023, and continues to grow.
While protein bars are an efficient way to get in some protein, the quality of that protein may be questionable, according to recent research. A study published in the journal Scientific Reports in March analyzed the protein quality of 1,641 protein bars using data from the website OpenFoodFacts.org—and discovered low protein nutritional quality across the bars. That may hinder how much protein your body is actually able to absorb and use.
Protein bars with the highest and lowest protein quality
To evaluate the quality of the protein in the bars, the researchers mimicked the digestion process in lab simulations to determine the protein digestibility, and therefore its quality.
The researchers divided the protein bars into four categories of commonly used proteins: (A) plant only (pea and rice); (B) animal only (milk proteins); (C) mix of animal (milk and egg) and plant (soy); (D) mix of animal (milk and collagen) and plant (soy).
While 81% of the bars had sufficient protein quantities to be labeled as “high in protein,” protein digestibility could be low, ranging from 86% to as low as 47%.
The study authors hypothesized that the degradation in protein quality was likely due to the addition of ingredients like “lower-nutritional-quality proteins (such as collagen) and of other ingredients such as carbohydrates, fats and fibers, that might deteriorate the bioaccessibility of essential amino acids.”
They found that the bars with the highest protein quality contained only animal-based proteins in the form of whey protein concentrate and milk protein (casein) concentrate, which are both proteins found in milk. The bars with the lowest protein quality were the entirely plant-based bars, with their protein sources coming from pea protein isolate and rice protein isolate. They also observed that animal-based protein bars had higher protein and fiber content, and lower calories, fat, carbohydrate, and sugar content.
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