Putting the bite on ‘healthy’ muesli bars

Think you're choosing the ``healthy option'' by eating what you think is a muesli bar as a snack? Think again.

Some snack bars have more energy than a serving of KitKat, and are ``no better than a chocolate bar'', a leading Bay dietician says.

Registered dietician Rachel Scrivin of FoodFX said snack bars were not necessarily a healthy option.

``Some of them say they are a muesli bar but there's not much muesli, which you would think of as oats or dried fruit or bran flakes.

``Supermarkets bunch all the bars together, which makes it really confusing as they are not the same. Some of them, like the rice bubble bars, they call snack bars not muesli bars.''

Mrs Scrivin said chocolate-coated and yoghurt-coated bars were equally high in calories _ and ``some no better than a chocolate bar''.

``They have got chocolate on one or two sides _ they are like a fancy, bigger chocolate biscuit.

``It sounds like you are eating a healthier option, when it's equivalent to a couple of biscuits.''

So how do you know what you are buying is actually healthy or meeting your needs?

With claims such as ``25 per cent less sugar'', ``Nature's power pack'', ``natural'' and ``superfruits'', it's still essential to check the nutritional information.

``You need to read the labels to find out what has the lowest fat and lowest sugars,'' Mrs Scrivin said.

``Look at the list of ingredients _ you'd hope one of the first ingredients would be oats or wheat flakes, and you definitely don't want sugar appearing first or second.''

Even picking products with the Heart Foundation tick was not a guarantee you were buying a product suitable to you, Mrs Scrivin said.

``[The tick] is predominantly based on low fat [and does not necessarily mean the product is low in sugar].

``They are a guide to us but some people want to have low-sugar products, if they are a diabetic or watching their energy intake.''

Mrs Scrivin said she still recommended muesli bars to clients as long as they were full of ``oats you can see, not too many sugars, and if they are from things like dried fruit and honey''.

Avoid bars with no fibre listed in the ingredients panel.

But she believed a better snack was fruit or crackers.

``[Muesli bars] don't really fill you up very much.

``You will still get more satisfaction from eating an apple _ it has less calories and additives, and it fills you up.

``A banana is very similar in energy. Have fruit or low-salt crackers and hummus and avocado and tomato.''

Mount Maunganui Bay BodyFit owner and personal trainer Mark Woodgate said muesli bars were marketed as being a healthy snack option but were not.

Mr Woodgate said most muesli bars contained about 20 per cent refined sugar, highly processed carbohydrates and lots of additives. These factors made them high in calories.

Eating them would have a negative impact on the eater's blood sugar levels, he said.

``They will give you a quick blood sugar rush but then you quickly come down again.

``If you need a snack, then it's far better to eat a piece of fruit or some raw nuts.''-->-->-->-->