Wednesday, July 23, 2008 | Category:
Sports Nutrition
If you are like me, you need quick energy from time to time – before a workout, when your tank is feeling a little low or perhaps after a session, when you’d like to take in some carbs for recovery.
Often, we turn to energy bars at such times. Expensive they may be, but they do often pack carbohydrate and protein wallops, and many of them throw in things we seem to need, like vitamins, minerals, and even healthy fats (omega-3s). Consuming an energy bar seems to be an easy way to fill up our glycogen tanks, boost blood glucose a little, and decrease the risk of vitamin/mineral deficiency.
There’s one problem, though: Sports bars are often mislabeled. In fact, one study carried out by the independent testing lab ConsumerLab.com found that 18 of the 30 nutrition bars examined had inaccurate information on their labels.
One major maker of very popular sports bars had to settle a class-action suit in the State of California because the labels falsely stated that the bars contained less sodium and fat than they really did – and more vitamins and minerals than they really had. As it turned out, the coconut bars produced by this company advertised 4 grams of fat and 35 milligrams of sodium but actually contained 16 grams of fat and 235 milligrams of sodium. The labels on the bars also failed to mention that sucrose (table sugar) was an important ingredient. The labels also hailed the presence of “healthy canola oil” as an ingredient, even though there was not even a micro-drop of the stuff in the bars. According to the excellent book Muscles, Speed, & Lies by David Lightsey, the company involved (Weider Nutrition Group, Inc.) agreed to pay $75,000 to reimburse individuals who bought its bars, paid attorney and court costs, and also donated $2 million of its product to a Southern-California food bank (apparently it is OK for food-bank clients to eat mislabeled products).
In 2001, another major sports-bar maker had to recall 1.5 million energy bars because they contained excessively high levels of vitamin A. These bars featured about 32,500 IUs of Vitamin A – enough to cause fatigue and a general sense of malaise. Near-daily consumption of the bar could have induced chronic vitamin-A toxicity, with symptoms ranging from baldness to bone and muscle pain, liver poisoning, hyperlipidemia, skin disorders, and visual impairment.
Sports bars are not the only products marketed to athletes that are being mislabeled: Sports supplements are in the same boat. Just two years ago, the liquid creatine supplement called Creatine Serum, which had a label stating that it contained pure creatine monohydrate, was found to contain just trace amounts of creatine – less than 1 percent of the quantity stated on the label. The remainder of Creatine Serum was actually a related but totally ineffective compound called creatinine.
The problem? We runners are pretty much dependent on the claims being made by companies which are selling their energy bars and sports supplements to us. It’s tough for us to check on the accuracy of the claims made by the companies – and whether the products contain their stated contents.
One solution is to rely on a great company like ConsumerLab.com, which does independent testing of various products of possible interest to runners. Incidentally, the “Council of Responsible Nutrition”, a trade group which represents dietary supplement distributors and manufacturers, recently denounced ConsumerLab for its “egregious form of consumer fraud and deception.” All ConsumerLab does is analyze the contents of over-the-counter nutritional products, so its easy to see why its activities would make the supplement and energy bar industries pretty anxious.
Another solution? Use real foods instead of sports bars and nutritional supplements. In place of a sports bar, you could eat something like a brown-rice cake: Two cakes provide about 15 grams of carbohydrate, a couple of grams of protein, and around 70 calories. Smear a little peanut butter on them (or an omega-3-rich spread of some kind), and you have a tremendous pick-me-up and wonderfully healthy food.
And remember that only three compounds – caffeine, sodium bicarbonate, and creatine monohydrate – have been linked with improved performances in high-quality, randomized, cross-over, double-blind scientific studies. All the other stuff, ranging from Arginine to Zynotol, appears to be worthless from a performance-enhancing standpoint and will put a dent in your pocketbook without taking a chunk out of your 10-K time.