It's time to put down the protein bar you reach for after your workout or the snack bars you pick up to stave off hunger pangs in the afternoon. While manufacturers may have positioned these bars as part of the clean eating trend,
most contain more sugar than a doughnut and only slightly less carbs than a Snickers bar. Many protein bars also use soy to boost the percentage of protein in their products.
While you may have heard that soy is healthy, unfermented soy products are nothing more than a clever marketing gimmick to reduce the cost of production. Soy was a minor industrial crop in the early 1900s. By 1935 Ford Motor Company was using a bushel of soybeans in every car produced to manufacture strong plastics for gear shift knobs, horn buttons and window frames.
1Today, 31 states
2 produce $40 billion in soybeans each year,
3 the vast majority of which is used to produce oil and soy protein that are used in the manufacture of food products.
Although these products have become a popular choice among gym goers, protein and energy bars are not the best choice and likely shouldn't be the first choice to refuel your body after a heavy workout. In an effort to determine the nutritional benefit of
protein bars available in the U.K., bespoke insurance company Protectivity developed a Fitness Food Index that identified specific nutritional markers and compared those against other bars.
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Comment: Generally speaking, diet and lifestyle changes will go a lot farther in improving one's overall health than medication.