Nutrition Bars Review (Protein, Energy, and Nut & Fruit Bars)

How Products were Selected:

Products were selected represent those popular among readers of ConsumerLab.com and commonly sold and/or available nationally in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers or direct sales companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.

Testing Methods:

1. Nutrition bar products were tested for their weight, total calories, moisture, ash, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, protein, total carbohydrates, total sugars, total dietary fiber (in products listing 5 g or more of fiber per serving including soluble and insoluble). Products were also tested for sugar alcohols (not including glycerol) if claimed on the label. All products were analyzed for their specific nutritional components using Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) International methods.
2. Analyses of all products for lead, cadmium, arsenic and sodium were performed using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS).
3. Gluten: Quantitative analysis of gluten in any product claiming to be gluten free by Enzyme immunoassay methodology (AOAC 2012.01).

Testing was performed by one or more independent, outside laboratories. Any product that initially pass (below) a test was sent to another independent laboratory to repeat testing for the criterion on which it did not pass.

ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.

The identities of the products were not disclosed to the laboratories performing the testing.

Passing Score:*

To be “Approved” by ConsumerLab.com, a product had to meet the following requirements:

1. Specify the amount of all nutrients in the product that are required by the FDA to be stated in the Nutrition Facts panel for foods or in the Supplement Facts panel for dietary supplements.
2. Contain no less than 93% of its claimed content weight.
3. Meet its label claims within a specified range for each nutritional component as indicated below:
   • Calories (within 20% of claim);
   • Total Fat (within 1 gram or 15% of claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero total fat, no more than 0.5 gram/serving);
   • Saturated Fat (within 0.5 gram/serving or 15% above claim, whichever is greater);
   • Trans Fat (within 0.5 gram or 15% above claim, whichever is greater);
   • Cholesterol (within 4 mg/serving or 15% above claim, whichever is greater; or if claiming zero, no more than 3 mg/serving);
   • Sodium (no more than the greater of 70 mg/serving or 15% above claim, and no more than the greater of 50 mg/serving or 50% below claim; or, if claiming zero sodium, no more than 5 mg/serving);
   • Protein (within 1 gram/serving or -20% or +30% of claim, whichever is greater);
   • Total Carbohydrates (within 5 gram/serving or 15% of claim, whichever is greater; or, if claiming zero to 3g/serving of carbohydrates, within 1g of claim);
   • Total Sugars (no more than the greater of 1 gram/serving or 15% above claim, and no more than the greater of 1.5 g/serving or 20% below claim; or, if claiming zero sugar, no more than 0.5 gram/serving);
   • Sugar alcohols (within 1 gram/serving, or 15% above claim, whichever is greater, and list all sugar alcohols detected at one gram or higher);
   • Total dietary fiber (within 2.5 grams or 25% of claim, whichever is greater);
   • Insoluble dietary fiber (within 1 gram or 20% of claim, whichever is greater);
   • Soluble fiber (within 1 gram or 20% of claim, whichever is greater).
4. Heavy Metals. Products must not exceed the following limits:
   Lead:
   • Products marketed for use by children may not exceed California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium.
   • Products marketed for use by children under 12 years of age or by pregnant or nursing women may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg if the product contains more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium. Products with a single serving weight of less than 5 grams that are not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving (above which a warning regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, or cancer risks is required in California) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250-999 mg/day of any combination of elemental calcium, magnesium and potassium or 0.8 mcg if containing more than 1,000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional allowance of 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) or 1.0 mcg if containing 1000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance must not exceed 2 mcg per daily serving.
   • Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more that are not marketed for children under 12 years of age may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving.
   Arsenic:
   • Contain less than 10 micrograms of total arsenic per daily serving (based on Canada’s limit per daily serving of a natural health product, and U.S. EPA and state of New Jersey limit in 1 liter of water). Products found to exceed this amount were tested for inorganic arsenic and must not contain more than 2.1 micrograms of inorganic arsenic per daily serving (Canada's additional limit in natural health products).
   Cadmium:
   • If marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75lbs). If not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm.
   Mercury:
   • May not exceed 2 micrograms of inorganic mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water).
5. Gluten: No more than 20 ppm per serving (FDA).
6. Comply with all FDA labeling requirements.

A "Pass" was based on meeting the above criteria in either the first or second rounds of testing.

A "Pass" was based on meeting the above criteria in either the first or second rounds of testing.

* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing its testing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation in quality, present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.