Cancer Council WA is urging shoppers to read the nutrition labels on muesli bars after a review found that while some are a healthy snack, many pack sugar levels more akin to confectionery.
Cancer Council WA Schools Nutrition Senior Coordinator, Mikala Atkinson, said with such a wide variety of muesli bars on supermarket shelves, including a new range of high protein bars, it can be difficult to know which ones to buy.
"Cancer Council WA conducted an audit of 80 muesli bars from major supermarkets to assess their sugar, saturated fat, sodium (salt) and fibre content, to help shoppers know which muesli bars to choose and which to lose," Ms Atkinson said.
"In our review we examined all types of snack bars including traditional muesli bars, protein bars, oat bars, cereal bars, nut bars and fruit filled bars.
"A traditional muesli bar should include ingredients such as rolled oats, dried fruit and nuts or seeds with less than 15 grams of sugar.
"Brands such as Carman's Original Fruit Free Muesli Bars and Hillcrest Fruit Free Premium Muesli Bars performed well nutritionally, while nut-free options like Mother Earth Chewy Berry Smoothie and Uncle Tobys Chewy Apricot Bars also performed well.
However, more than four in five of the snack bars in our review were over 15 per cent sugar. We found some snack bars that were 30-40 per cent sugar. This is similar to the amount of sugar you typically find in a biscuit.
Ms Atkinson said bars containing chocolate ranked among the worst.
"Whether chocolate coated, chocolate flavoured or packed with chocolate chips, many of the snack bars considered worst offenders contained chocolate in one way or another," she said.
"If you are looking for everyday options to include in the lunchbox, it is best to avoid snack bars containing chocolate as this consistently bumps up the sugar and saturated fat content.
"Some of the bars had more chocolate than you would find in ready-made choc chip biscuits, including Hillcrest Protein Oat Bars Dark Choc which were 36 per cent sugar, Nutri Grain Original Bars which were also 36 per cent sugar, and the worst offender, LCMs Kaleidos which were a whopping 40 per cent sugar.
"The healthiest choice is to keep it simple. Look for bars made with oats, nuts, seeds and dried fruit-they provide fibre and sustained energy for kids."
Top picks for muesli bars with nuts
Carman's Original Fruit Free Muesli Bars
- These contain 51 per cent wholegrain oats, 7 per cent nuts and 7 per cent seeds
- Fibre – 3.1g per serve
- Sugar -11.6g per 100g
Hillcrest Fruit Free Premium Muesli Bars
- These contain 50 per cent wholegrain oats, 6 per cent nuts and just over 4 per cent seeds
- Fibre – 2.6g per serve
- Sugar -12g per 100g
Hillcrest Premium Almonds, Hazelnuts and Vanilla Nut Bars
- These contain 45 per cent peanuts, 15 per cent almonds, 1.5 per cent hazelnuts
- Fibre – 2.4g per serve
- Sugar – 13g sugar per 100g
Top picks for nut free muesli bars
Mother Earth Chewy Berry Smoothie Muesli Bars
- These contain 35 per cent wholegrain oats
- Fibre – 2g per serve
- Sugar – 13.9g per 100g
Uncle Tobys Chewy Apricot Muesli Bars
- These contain 36 per cent rolled oats
- Fibre – 3.6g per serve
- Sugar – 15.6g per 100g
High sugar and saturated fat bars
Hillcrest Protein Oat Bars Dark Choc
- These contain 25 per cent wholegrain cereals
- Choc chips 23 per cent
- Fibre - 2.2g per serve
- Sugar - 31.6g per 100g
- Saturated fat - 16.9g per 100g
Nutri Grain Original Bars
- These do not list any wholegrain cereal percentage
- Choc compound 19 percent
- Fibre - 0.5g per serve
- Sugar - 36.2g per 100g
- Saturated fat - 5.9g per 100g
LCMs Kaleidos
- These contain 30 per cent white rice (no wholegrains)
- Candy coated choc chips 14 per cent
- Fibre - 0.3g per serve
- Sugar - 40.5g per 100g
- Saturated fat - 4.8g per 100g
