Protein Bars better than food?
In my opinion, protein bars may have some role in meeting the needs of athletes who are endurance participants and get their “food on the run”, but to promote them for “lazy vegetarian college students” is not an appropriate recommendation.
A recent article in the LA Times was found touting the benefits of high protein bars for athletes, “lazy vegetarians” and “college students with poor diets”.
The article quoted Nancy Clark, a famous sports nutrition guru,as saying that “the protein bars were a good substitute for carbed out athletes craving protein.” Furthermore, the article stated that bars with no vitamins should be chosen as they “tasted better”.
This is in contrast to the Dietary Guidelines, which promote a healthy diet low in fat and adequate in nutrients from a balanced diet. The USDA food pyramid even places a multi-vitamin at the top of the pyramid indicating the difficulty in meeting nutritional needs from diet alone. Protein bars may have some role in meeting the needs of athletes who are endurance participants and get their “food on the run”, but to promote them for lazy vegetarian college students is not an appropriate recommendation in my opinion.
It may also be noted that the article contained an analysis of two protein bars, one had a whopping 330 calories and 16% of the calories were from saturated fat. So much for controlling refined carbohydrates, sugar, total calories and saturated fat.To clarify Nancy Clark’s position, in an interview conducted on January 26, 2008, she was quoted as saying “I am only recommending the protein bars for the college vegetarians who are not getting any protein in their diet at all and are living on bagels and peanut butter”.
Of course, she states, “food should be the first choice for meeting nutritional needs, but many vegetarian college students are just plain lazy or ill informed.” She also went onto say that they
“are not meeting their protein needs and that this is better than nothing”. Vegetarians, who typically adopt this lifestyle to achieve better health are, to my surprise, not following their own philosophy if they must turn to protein bars to meet their nutritional needs.
About the Author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
Levi responds:
Posted: February 29th, 2008 at 10:03 am →
The college student argument is kind of lame because if they’re living off bagels and peanut butter they probably can’t afford $3 protein bars all the time. I was a college student myself not long ago, I remember