Are protein bars really just candy in disguise?

Are protein bars really just candy in disguise? - I was traveling by air recently and eat my "quick lunch" -a regular protein bar and an apple. 

Across the hall, I noticed another passenger eating a chocolate bar. It made me think of recent studies documenting the deplorable state of the average American diet, and rising rates of obesity.

However, at first glance, a snack and was enjoying my quick lunch seemed. Both were eating a rectangular bar covered in chocolate icing. I asked myself, is my protein bar really a healthier choice, or is it more like a chocolate bar than I want to admit?

Therefore, I carefully compared the nutritional content of a Snickers bar, Luna bar (Nutz over chocolate, my favorite) and, in addition, a granola bar Nature Valley Oats' n Honey. This is what I found.

    *  Calories. Snickers bar has the most calories per serving (250). But the size of the portion of a Snickers bar was larger: 52.7 grams against 48 grams for Luna Bar and 42 grams for the granola bar (both of which were 190 calories per serving). This means that gram for gram, the calories were similar.
 
    *  Fat. Snickers bar had 12 grams of fat. That's about twice as much fat as the other two bars, and more than a third were unhealthy saturated fat.
 
    * Sugar and salt. Again, the Snickers bar was the loser, with 27 grams of sugar being well above 11 grams and 10 grams granola bar in the bar Luna. However, the salt content was lower in the Snickers bar.

    * Protein. True to its billing as a high-protein food of the Luna bar has 9 grams of protein - that is up to 20% of the needs of an entire day. Snickers bar and had 4 grams of granola bar, 3 grams.

    * Fiber. To be considered "high fiber", a food must have 5 grams of fiber per serving. Only Luna Bar came close to it, with 4 grams of fiber.
 
    * Vitamins and minerals. Moon Bar provides good dose of calcium (35% of your daily needs), iron (30%), folic acid (100%) and vitamin D (15%). Not bad! Other bars do not contain significant amounts of these nutrients.

And one more thing ...

Moon bars are marketed as "The Bar Whole Nutrition for Women", because of calcium, vitamin D, iron and folic acid in each bar. So if you are a woman, these bars will make you healthier? What if a man (like me) regularly eat these bars?

It is true that women are more likely to develop osteoporosis than men, so it is important that women get enough calcium and vitamin D. Women are more likely to have iron deficiency due to bleeding menstrual. 

And reproductive age women should get enough folic acid to help prevent certain birth defects in their children. Yet the amount of nutrients in a bar moon unlikely to have much impact on the health of the female (or male) average fan. 

So snack you choose? 

When you get to the end, a Snickers bar is not quite far worse than many nutritional bars. For example, the calorie difference is reduced when the sizes of portions are equalized.

These bars and protein content will not make much difference for the person who already eat a well balanced diet with other good sources of dietary protein. However, I can not recommend a chocolate bar every day, although the occasional splurge probably will not hurt you. 

Remember, the "value" of a food should be considered in the context of the total diet of a person, including the total balance of calories, protein, fat and sugar consumed throughout the day.

And let us not forget that the calories you burn through physical activity are also very important. He planned to work as soon as I returned from my trip. I wish that my traveling companion had intended to do the same. 
By: Robert Shmerling, M.D.