What Are the Benefits of Protein Bars? The Most Important Points at a Glance

• Doctors, health blogs, and health insurance companies aren't high on protein bars.
• Sure, these dietary supplements naturally contain a relatively high amount of sugar—there's no point in beating around the bush about it.
• But first of all, sugar isn't always bad—athletes, in particular, need simple and disaccharides.
• And second, protein bars are never intended to be meal replacements—as is often assumed—but rather as a dietary supplement.

Anyone interested in sports and fitness knows this, of course: The body relies heavily on protein. That’s because protein strengthens, maintains, and builds muscles. Natural sources of protein are welcome—it makes sense that legumes like lentils, just like eggs, quark, or meat, contain a lot of protein.

Natural proteins are not always available

Athletes, in particular, know that it’s difficult to eat legumes or eggs when the body needs them most—that is, right after exercising. So natural protein sources aren’t always available. Now is the time to turn to protein bars as a source of energy and protein.

Eating protein bars after exercise replenishes depleted stores. This ensures that your body gets the protein it needs for muscle recovery and growth. However, this does not mean that you should only consume protein after exercise.

Protein bars: usually more effective than natural products

An important factor in protein intake is what’s known as “biological value.” But what does this term actually mean? It refers to how effectively the body is able to convert ingested proteins into its own proteins. So, the better the proteins are converted, the higher the biological value —and for most protein bars, this factor is actually better than for proteins derived from natural sources.

Add to that the convenience mentioned at the beginning. Protein bars can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere, and they’re easy to carry around. After all, that’s not quite as easy with quark, meat, eggs, legumes, and the like. You can only eat these protein-rich foods at home—though it would make more sense to replenish your depleted protein stores right after your workout.

Which protein bar you prefer is, of course, a matter of taste. For example, if you enjoy a chocolatey flavor, you’ll love Clif Builders Protein Chocolate, a protein bar made with high-quality ingredients that contains an ideal blend of protein, fat, and carbohydrates.

What protein bars are criticized for: they contain sugar

It makes sense: There are healthier options than protein bars. They’re often criticized because they contain sugar. But people tend to forget that we need carbohydrates—including sugar—when we exercise. So sugar isn’t something that’s bad in and of itself. In your daily diet, you should try to eat what are known as complex carbohydrates—that is, fiber and starch. The body breaks these down more slowly, providing a steady supply of energy over a longer period of time.

But in sports, simple and disaccharides are also helpful: fructose, glucose, maltose, lactose, and table sugar. When your energy stores are depleted after a strenuous workout, you can replenish them more quickly with simple and disaccharides than with polysaccharides. Protein bars contain these simple sugars and thus help to quickly replenish the body’s sugar needs in addition to providing protein.