This is the official start to my "Chimpy Speaks" product review series. I make no claims as to having any particular credentials to review a product, aside from experience.
Product Name: Powerbar Recovery Bar
Price: 15.99 for a box of 15 on Amazon, ~1.75 per bar
Manufacturer: Nestle
Powerbar had a presence at my recent race, the Islander Aquathon, and as such I was lucky enough to receive a box of one of Powerbar's latest products, the Recovery Bar. Powerbar, much like Gatorade, has adopted a 1-2-3 cachet of products designed for 1.) pre-exercise/workout 2.) during exercise and 3.)post-exercise/workout. There are two flavors:
1.) Peanut Butter Caramel Crisp
2.) Cookie's and Cream Caramel Crisp
Clearly, the caramel people have good lobbyists.
I took advantage of a glorious long-run post-workout glycogen window to try out one of these bars. My first thought was ++++REESE'S PEANUT BUTTER CUP+++++. It seemed that Powerbar had somehow injected a bit of crack and through some food manufacturer cross-pollination, some Hershey's Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Heavens, it was tasty.
Did it help my recovery? Hell if I know. I was taking an ice bath while eating the thing. And without an honest-to-goodness standardized tests, you can't really say anything beyond the anecdotal. But, we can take a look at the ingredient list and go from there:
CHOCOLATEY COATING (SUGAR, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, COCOA, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR), TRISOURCE™ PROTEIN BLEND (WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE), GLUCOSE SYRUP, CARAMEL (CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, CREAM, WATER, FRUCTOSE, PALM OIL, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, CARRAGEENAN), MALTODEXTRIN, GLYCERIN, COOKIE BITS (RICE FLOUR, SUGAR, CANOLA OIL, ALKALIZED COCOA, RICE STARCH, BAKING SODA, SALT), HIGH OLEIC CANOLA OIL, EVAPORATED CANE JUICE SYRUP, SOY CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, TAPIOCA STARCH, SALT), NATURAL FLAVOR, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, ALMOND BUTTER, PEANUT FLOUR.
Holy cannoli. Let's see the good and the bad:
Good:
Whey, Whey Protein Isolate (protein, good for recovery as the bar intends to do)
Glucose Syrup: Need to replenish those glycogen stores
Fructose: Always better to get your glycogen from a variety of sources instead of just one
Salt: you lose it when you sweat.
Maltodextrin: again, variety of carbohydrate sources
Almond Butter: almonds are good for you!
Bad:
Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil: two reasons; one is that a lot of rainforest is being burned to plant palm trees in order to harvest the oil, and second is that as a general rule of thumb, the more processing (fractionated?), the less the stuff is good for you
Soy: processed soy reduces testosterone !
Corn Syrup: see my above comment on palm kernel oil
Peanut Flour: Not only are peanuts not necessarily the heart-healthy manna some people think, a lot of folks are allergic to them, they've got aflatoxins. Don't ask me, but I trust this guy. Next, let's look at the nutritional information:
| kCal: | 250 |
| Fat, g: | 9 |
| Saturated Fat, g: | 4.5 |
| Protein, g: | 12 |
| Carb, g: | 30 |
| Sugar, g: | 19 |
Nothing really crazy there.
So, bottom line: They are really, really tasty. But, given the number of non-whole food ingredients, and the ease with which one might overconsume them due to their extreme tastiness, I would say in a pinch, they're great for recovery after a intense and/or long (2+ hours), but if you've got 10 minutes to put together some real food or a healthier alternative, go for the latter.
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