Calorie Content Warning/Bars, Shakes, etc.

K

kimroberts

Cathlete
I purchase some Energy Bars off the Web. I got hooked on them at the gym and the owner quit carrying chocolate, my favorite flavor. So I buy them myself now. In my recent shipment, the labeling had changed but the bar looked/tasted the same. The difference? THE CALORIE CONTENT HAD GONE UP TO 400 CALORIES A BAR WHEN IT USED TO BE 270 CALORIES.

So I immediately fired off an email to the company and said, "What's up with this change?"

Come to find out, glycerin, the sweetner in this product and many other diet products, did not have to be listed in the calorie content because it is an alcohol, rather than a fat/protein/carb. So the bar has ALWAYS had 400 calories in it, even though it used to appear as if it only had 270. I don't know enough about this info to understand it completely. Maybe someone else can enlighten me.

Here's the general info from this guy's email:
He didn't say when, but the FDA has required that companies list the glycerin in the calorie content or pay a fine. The email I got back from the company I purchased from said that other companies opted to pay the fines rather than change their labeling, so they could still be deceiving. He listed 3 major manufacturers, and if you eat any meal replacement stuff, you've probably eaten one of them. I'd rather not put the manufacturer names he gave me on here because I don't have any newspaper clippings or such to back him up. But according to this guy, one company opted to pay a $32 million fine rather than re-lable their product, and another company opted to pay $6.2 million. Both companies seemed to think they would lose less money by paying the fine rather than re-labeling the product and losing sales.

I guess "buyer beware" takes on a whole new meaning. Read those labels closely and if you're in doubt and calories matter a lot to you, it's worth an email to the manufacturer to check it out.
 
Wow! This post really caught my interest and I did a little websurfing. There's an interesting article at www.consumerlab.com/results/nutbars.asp that discusses the fact that glycerine isn't included in the calculation of carbs by many of the makers of these bars. Here's a quote:
"The most common problem among the products was finding undeclared amounts of carbohydrates. In fact, a full one-half (15) of the nutrition bars exceeded their claimed levels of carbohydrates, often by large amounts. One product, which described itself as a low carbohydrate diet bar, claimed only 2 grams of carbohydrates, but was found to actually contain 22 grams." The article goes on to say that one reason for this is that the mfg wasn't counting glycerin as a carb.

Thanks, Kim, for opening my eyes to this deception. Shame on those manufacturers who don't really have their customers needs as a priority. They just hopped on the bandwagon of the public's desire for low carbs, and they don't care that they are not being upfront about just how many carbs are in the bar.

Veronica
 
Hi Kim:

I'm really new to the protein supplement market. My aerobics instructor bought me "Designer Protein Whey", and I'd like to check it out.

I'd really appreciate it if you could e-mail me the names of these manufacturers as well. Pretty please with sugar (oops! better make that Splenda!) on top?

I'm at [email protected].

Thanks!

Patricia
 
Patricia...

Hi Patricia...

I think the bar that you mention has in ittybitty print on the label somewhere that it contains glycerin and is not counted as a carb and therefore the calories are more than what is stated on the bar.

Veronica
 
It might be easier to just post the names of the manufacter's and include the disclaimer that you don't know if the source is reliable, but if your not confortable with that can you email me also???? email address [email protected]
Thanks
Dawn W
 
Hey guys, look at the labeling of what you're eating. See if there is a confusing statement written in really tiny print on the nutrition section that contains the word glycerin or glycerol. If there is any statement like that, the calorie content is likely misrepresented.
 
There are two new flavors of Pure Protein bars that just came out with the revised labeling. They break down the carbs according to whether they come from glycerine or not. However, the TOTAL amount is listed on the nutrition facts label. You'll be quite surprised at the difference it makes. It brings the carbs up to about 29 grams.
 
What does it bring the total calories up to? I haven't seen the new label yet. We haven't ordered any at the gym because we're trying to sell out of our old stock completely.

Kim
 
Please e-mail me also....I rely on meal replacement shakes a lot. Thanks.
 
thanks kim!

Kim - Thanks for the heads up! I've been having ProteinPlus bars after my morning workouts for breakfast. Now I know why it's been so hard for me to drop the Christmas cookie fat that accumulated on my thighs over the holidays! It's so disappointing that a company that markets its products to people committed to healthy lifestyles would result to what I perceive to be deceptive labeling. Geez. I'll go back to cottage cheese or tuna with some fruit! It's probably "cleaner" anyway. Suzanne
 
The total calories stayed the same. I guess in the original label, they accounted for the calories glycerine added but omitted the carbohydrates it added.
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Jan-25-02 AT 06:50PM (Est)[/font][p]forget the emailing the names of the manufactures privately.. i think these guys should have their names in red letters all over the place.

People suffer like heck to cut out calories... the manufactures abused a trusting public.
 
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