I’m examining the ingredient list of the Powerbar ProteinPlus Chocolate Fudge Brownie bar that I’m about to eat. Glad to see that they have Brown Rice Syrup as the first sugar listed, wish High Fructose Corn Syrup wasn’t on the list but at least it’s down a ways.
Anyway, my real question is: What the hell is Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil??? Is this different than those dreaded Partially Hydrogenated oils??
I stopped eating Powerbars a while ago because I like the ingredients in Clif Bars more, but I got this one for free after the Rock n Roll marathon, and it’s better that running to get a Snickers from the gedunk machine.
Fractionation is a manufacturing process in which undesirable fat ingredients are removed and desirable fat ingredients remain in the oil. Basically removes the “liquid” part of the oil
Bars manufactures use it to make the chocolate coating stick to the bar.
From what I have read, its a little better then partially hydrogenated oils…but not much.
Tropical oils however are worse for you then others though, due to high saturated fat. Fractionation makes them worse…BUT, they are cheaper then the better oils. That why we will see more and more palm, coconut, and palm kernel oils in manufactured foods. And less and less canola, olive, corn, sunflower, or soybean. These oils are well know for their taste and flavor…and therefore are VERY expensive compared to other oils
Palm Kernel oil is extracted using petroleum products that leave a residue. Palm oil (from the fruit) is easily extracted, so no harmful chemicals are used.
Tropical oils get a bad rap. There’s a lot of good things in all natural foods - including, for example, coconut oil.
As per PowerBar… generally speaking, thier new products don’t seem healthy at all.
I’m always surprised when I see people eating power bars, I never could stomach them at all…I’d rather just wait until I found something more palatable…
The regular 'ol Powerbars I won’t eat again. I used to eat them in college, but honestly I think it was mostly for the awe factor. People would look at you like you were some sort of freak for eating them, guess I enjoyed making them stare. Once I discovered better tasting bars which didn’t have as much crap in them I have never looked back. However the Protein Plus bars are much better tasting, actually quite tasty, but probably because of all the crap that’s in there.