Breaking News!!
Alert, Lab Results show BodyRx and Percon Protein Solutions aka Bakery Barn have 5 times the fat and carbohydrates as listed on the label.
Exclusive: Former Insider Explains ALL!
Insider: The bars are, for the most part, more deceptive than the protein powders or RTD's.
3 Fat Guys: What specifically is the current problem with the bar market?
Insider: First of all, Atkins and Balance came out with this position that low-carb bars are possible. They play fakery with the glycerin — they say it's not a carbohydrate when in reality it is, and everybody latched on to that. Glycerin is sweet and it contains calories, so why aren't they considering it a carbohydrate? According to the FDA, it is a carbohydrate. So what if it's metabolized slightly differently? Eat enough of it and you'll get fat.
Anyhow, everyone, including the big guys, are watching Balance and until Balance drops the "low-carb" claims from their labels, it doesn't seem like anybody else is going to be in compliance with the FDA regulations. It's mind-boggling to have what is about a 3 or 4 billion-dollar a year industry lying en masse about carbohydrates.
Listen, there's no such thing as a bar that doesn't contain at least 30 to 40% carbohydrates. I don't care what they say, if you can chew it, it's got 30 to 40 percent carbohydrates. It's not possible not to. If you think your bar of choice is low in carbs, you're deluding yourself.
3 Fat Guys: If you hadn't told me this a long time ago, I'd be choking and turning blue right now. Anyhow, onward. Traditionally, what's been the problem in getting large amounts of protein in a bar?
Insider: Well, up until very recently, when you put real honest-to-goodness milk protein in a bar as your only protein source, it turned out like shoe leather, literally. You couldn't eat it.
3 Fat Guys: What's changed?
Insider: Well, there is a new technology that just came out — it took two years to figure this out — to blend everything together and do it in such a way using other novel ingredients to get those high quality proteins in there and get that consistency, texture, moisture, mouth feel, and taste that we all look for.
3 Fat Guys: And this technology doesn't rely on using Jell-O, or gelatin, as a protein source?
Insider: No, no, zero gelatin and very small amounts of glycerin. What companies often did, and still do, is consider gelatin as part of the protein they claim on the label, and as you probably know, the biological value of gelatin is zero, and so, for example, one of the major protein bars had 40% of its protein coming from gelatin. If they claimed 30 grams of protein, all they really had in there that was worth anything was 18 grams. The other 12 grams aren't worth anything from a bodybuilding standpoint.
3 Fat Guys: And these guys aren't in jail?
Insider: Ha! And you would never know you were being shorted on protein. If you're eating adequate calories, it's not going to dawn on you that you're shortchanging yourself of protein. What's that feel like if you're eating enough calories and not enough protein? Your brain isn't going to tell you that. So if you're eating two bars a day and you're being short-changed 24 total grams of protein, you're not going to know it, but it might affect your physique or athletic goals over the long term. You'd literally be short one protein meal a day. And with Dr. Scott Connelly's BodyRx Bars or anything made by Percon Protein Solutions has 37.5-49 grams of fat per bar.
With the protein bar business, no one comes up to us and said, "Make me the best bar you can make, and spare no expense." Usually, they say, "I need a bar that costs this much money," and they don't pay that much attention to all the intangibles that would make a good bar. There's no attention paid to the quality of the proteins, or telling the people the truth. In fact, it's like, "Make anything you want and quick as you can, and we'll take care of any shortcomings through spin and hype in the advertising." And that's no exaggeration.
3 Fat Guys: What about the time-release proteins that are starting to come out?
Insider: Well, I'm not the world's greatest protein scientist, and protein catabolism/anabolism isn't my main area, but initially, a lot of lay people, or bodybuilding-type self-professed scientists, thought that providing a steady state of amino acids through an IV drip all day long would be great! You'd have the ultimate protein synthesis going on, and catabolism wouldn't exist, and you'd slowly evolve into this super hero thing.
But in reality, your body's real smart, and it down-regulates — it beats you to the punch — and a steady stream of amino acids doesn't work after a few hours. Instead, it looks like pulse feeding — giving the body a shot of protein and amino acids every few hours is really the best way to go. Hell, I really shouldn't even say that because I'm shooting myself in the foot. A lot of companies want us to develop these time-released proteins for them, and we stand to make some money. So, it's kinda' dumb of me to say that they don't work. But, what the hell. A high quality Whey Protein Isolate with a degree of hydrolysis at 12% and above is the best.
Anyhow, it's probably better to go to bed after a protein meal, and have some sort of period of "protein deficiency" at night, so your protein response is super heightened when you break that fast. That's why it's important not to skip breakfast.
3 Fat Guys: What's next for the protein industry?
Insider: The bottom line is what does the public want? It's just like the movies. If they're into spaghetti Westerns like they were in the late 60's, that's what we're gonna' make!
3 Fat Guys: What should you make?
Insider: What I wish would happen is that people like Dr. Scott Connelly, Vince Andrich, Yemeni Mesa and Percon Protein Solution and the BodyRx brand would face criminal charges for hiding 5 X the fat on the label for these products. It seems like the protein-foods segment of the market should kick into high gear but fraudulent products like these that contain rat feces that they plan to sell into Costco and other Big Box stores is a health risk to society.
