Ensure Bar - Does It Ensure Energy?
Written: Sep 04 '02 (Updated Sep 19 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of carbs for energy, tastes really good.
Cons: Lots of sugar, not enough protein as a meal replacement bar.
The Bottom Line: This is not a bad choice for an energy boost. With 9 grams of protein, it isn't a true meal replacement bar, but for $1.19 I am recommending it.
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| jo.com's Full Review: Ensure Bar |
I am reviewing one of my many bars in my arsenal of energy bars and that is Ensure . I hesitated for a long time before buying them, not because of what is in them or not in them but because Ensure to me has been associated with sickness not health. But I decided to give them a try.
About the bar:
It is considered a snack or meal replacement bar and on the front says “Nutrition and Energy Bar”
The company claims this is new, great tasting and To Your Health!”
Ensure bars have 24 vitamins and minerals. We are also told it is high in calcium and is a good source of protein.
Ensure bars are Kosher. You can find out about various products if you want that are Kosher at http://www.kashrut.com/Passover/crc2002products/.
The company tells us it is Kosher and I do believe them although I didn’t see it listed on this site.
There is a clear expiration date on the package, which tore easily, when I went to open it.
The flavors:
Chewy Chocolate Peanut
Cookies 'n Cream – The bar I am specifically reviewing
Cinnamon Oat'n Raisin
Chocolate Maple Nut
Ingredients:
High-fructose corn syrup, high-maltose corn syrup, yogurt coating (sugar, fractionated palm kernel oil, nonfat milk powder, maltodextrin, nonfat yogurt powder [cultured whey, nonfat milk], dextrose, titanium dioxide, natural flavor, soy lecithin, partially hydrogenated palm oil), chocolate cookie pieces (wheat flour, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cottonseed oil, cocoa [processed with alkali], salt, sodium bicarbonate), soy protein isolate, cocoa powder (processed with alkali), calcium caseinate, whey, fructose, natural and artificial flavors, and canola oil. May contain traces of egg and various nuts.
Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium phosphate dibasic, magnesium oxide, ascorbic acid, ferric orthophosphate, alpha-tocopheryl acetate, niacinamide, zinc oxide, calcium pantothenate, copper gluconate, manganese sulfate, beta-carotene, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, biotin, chromium chloride, sodium molybdate, potassium iodide, sodium selenate, phylloquinone, vitamin D3, and cyanocobalamin.
The above is from http://rpdind01.ross.com. (I had the specific page but it was too long and I couldn't submit the review.)
Power Bar Protein Plus also contains 4600mg of L-Glutamine the most abundant amino acid in muscles.
The product’s website is www.ensure.com
Some comparisons
At this point I have reviewed many bars and comparing them can get confusing. But most recently I reviewed the Power Bar Pria and The Power Bar Protein Plus both of which surprisingly I recommended.
When I reviewed those I compared them. I will look at Ensure as compared to the Power Bar Protein Plus because they are more similar than the Pria bar.
Ensure is a 2.12 ounce bar with 230 calories. Compare that with the Power Bar Protein Plus which has 290 calories in a 2 3/4 ounce bar. I asked my accountant husband to calculate the relationship and he told me that they were about equivalent with Ensure having 106.49 calories per ounce and the Power Bar having 105.45 per ounce so the two bars are fairly equal regarding calories to size. Ensure has 3 grams more sugar than Power Bar Protein Plus with 26 grams, which is a lot of suger.
Other nutrtional facts:
50 calories from fat
135 mg of sodium (180 mg in the Power Bar Protein Plus)
150 mg of potassium
1 gram of fiber (2 grams in the Power Bar Protein Plus)
6 grams of fat (versus 5)
What is the bar like?
I usually only recommend protein/energy/meal replacement bars for adults and I will do so for Ensure also unlike you talk with your doctor about it. The amount of vitamins in terms of Daily Recommended Values is low but I would still check.
The bar is covered in delicious white chocolate. It is has very dark chocolate inside with a bit of a crunch to it which are the cookies. It is really very delicious although it does have 5 points if you are on Weight Watchers. That is too many points for a snack. Even though it has 2 grams of fiber, the 6 grams of fat (4 of which are saturated) is really what makes this not a terrific snack!
This is not at all chewy, it has more of a brownie consistency to it. There is absolutely no aftertaste.
The Protein Plus Bars have 38 grams of carbohydrates and 26 grams of protein. The Ensure bar has 35 grams of carbohydrates and only 9 grams of protein not making it a true meal replacement bar. That just isn’t enough protein. It can be called a nutrition bar and even an energy bar with the amount of carbohydrates and sugar in it, but I take exception to it being used as a replacement for a meal, especially after a workout.
"The RDA represents the minimum amount of protein needed to fulfill protein needs in 97.5% of the population. This value is equal to 0.8 g of protein per kg body weight per day. (To figure out how much you weigh in kilograms take your weight in pounds, let's say 125, and divide it by 2.2. Then to figure out how much protein you need multiply that by 0.8. Do the same for the figure below. For me that would come out to about 46 grams of protein a day. Since I do resistance training, that number goes up.)
We have seen in our lab that individuals undergoing endurance training increase their protein needs to about 1 to 1.2 g per kg per day, well above the RDA."
(From:
http://www.thedoctorwillseeyounow.com/articles/nutrition/protein_2/ )
The Ensure bar is satisfying because it is so good and it does give me energy after a workout but I won’t be buying them again. I still have a couple left and I will eat them (I freeze them and then just take small pieces if I want something sweet.) either as a small snack from the freezer or to give me a boost after a workout.
My final thoughts:
I am going to recommend Ensure but only consider it average. I can’t in good conscious suggest eating this instead of a meal but it is very good and for 230 calories in this large bar that isn’t bad if you want something sweet that has vitamins in it as well. For exercise or intense activity I would go with the Power Protein Plus Bar over the Ensure even though it is more expensive at $1.95. At $1.19 a bar Ensure isn’t an awful choice to give you a bit of energy.
By the way, if you are looking for a low carbohydrate (2 grams); low sugar (1 gram) bar with 23 grams of protein and 7 grams of fat I recommend Biochem’s Ultimate Lo Carb Bar, which you can buy in super markets and vitamin stores for $1.99.
If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a comment. Most of my workout related reviews are listed on my profile page if you are interested in reading about other bars.
Recommended:
Yes
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