First there was the PowerBar. Then the Balance bar. Now the market is flooded with energy bars meant to boost your running performance. Are they good for you? More importantly, how do they taste? I recently took the plunge into the world of enregy bars and am here to report the (wildly mixed) results.
Energy bars are a popular choice among runners these days. They promise to increase performance, boost energy and provide nutrition at the same time. Oh, yeah,they also claim to taste good. While it’s difficult to determine whether any one factor can enhance running performance, energy bars do have their merits. Packed full of vitamins and minerals, and often balanced to provide “perfect” percentages of protein, carbohydrate, and fat, energy bars can be a quick and convenient way for a runner to get a pre-workout meal without having to worry about cooking, or about perishable foods. Energy bars generally are small, easy to carry, and melt-resistant.

I’ve dabbled a bit in energy bars in the past, and for a while was on a real Powerbar kick. When you’re running a lot, there’s no denying they give you at least a psychological boost. But these days there are so many competing energy bars, making a variety of claims. I decided to test a few and see what they were made of. I have to be truthful here and say that my survery is completely unscientific. While I can read each bar’s label to ascertain the ingredients, there’s no way I can say that one or another boosted my running performance. There are simply too may other factors that go into running to be able to trace results to one component. Thus, I have to admit, when rating the energy bars, my main criterion boiled down to taste. After all, I reasoned, what good is the most nutritious item in the world if it tastes so horrible you won’t eat it? Here then, is my unscientific, subjective rating of 6 popular and easy to find energy bars (all were purchased at Target):
Clif Luna Bar (S’mores Flavor)

* Nutrition: Good
* Texture: Very Good
* Calories: 180
* Overall Taste: Excellent

The Clif Luna bars are marketed toward (and, allegedly designed for) women, and to that end, the Luna contains 100% of the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for folate, and 35% of the RDA for calcium. Nutritionally, I think it should have even more calcium- most women don’t get nearly enough. Likewise, the 35% of the RDA for iron could also be higher, in my opinion- exercising women are often anemic. The Clif Luna is also high in lots of other minerals and vitamins as well as soy protein. Best of all, the taste is quite good. It reminded me of a Rice Krispy bar, and unlike many energy bars, I wasn’t that aware that I was eating something stuffed with supplements. Added bonus: a portion (they don’t say how much) of the proceeds will go to breast cancer research.
TwinLab Ironman Triathlon (Yogurt Berry Flavor)

* Nutrition: Pretty Good
* Texture: Horrible
* Calories: 230
* Overall Taste: Awful

This is a balanced bar- 40% carbohydrates, 30% protein and 30% fat. All I can say is 100% yuck! I couldn’t even choke it down. The texture is really disgusting- an orange-brown colored chewy cake-like substance. You can really taste the minerals. The main ingredient in the bar is “Special Ironman Protein” – mostly soy protein and whey protein. The bar is fortified with lots of vitamins and minerals- most of them providing 50% of your RDA. But if you’re like me and can’t eat more than a bite or two of the dreadful thing, they won’t do you much good.
Balance Outdoor All Natural Energy Bar (Crunchy Peanut Flavor)

* Nutrition: Fair
* Texture: Very Good
* Calories: 200
* Overall Taste: Good

This was one of the better bars I tasted. It’s small and relatively low in calories, and quite tasty. It had a nice peanutty flavor, but was not (as I had feared) too sweet. Unfortunately, the nutrition does not match the flavor. The bar provides only 8% of the RDA in calcium and iron, and nothing else. It is a 40/30/30 balanced bar, and is made with organic, unrefined ingredients.
PowerBar (Vanilla Crisp Flavor)

* Nutrition: Very Good
* Texture: Good
* Calories: 230
* Overall Taste: Good

This is the closest any of my selections came to the original PowerBar series, which essentially spawned the whole energy bar field. It doesn’t have too many bells and whistles, but is chock full of vitamins and minerals, including 100% of the RDA for Vitamins C, E, B6, B12, Folate, Riboflavin and others. Though it’s relatively high in calories, it only gets 25 of its calories from fat, and the bar is quite large, unlike some of the others discussed here (such as the 2 Balance bars). The taste of the Vanilla Crisp was quite nice, with the “Crisp” part coming from rice crisps. Overall, this was one of the better bars on the list.
PowerBar Protein Plus (Chocolate Peanut Butter Flavor)

* Nutrition: Very Good
* Texture: Awful
* Calories: 290
* Overall Taste: Really Bad