Adams, a division of the drug company Pfizer, must think we’re stupid.
Why else would it call a vitamin-fortified, candy-coated granola bar “Body Smarts”? The individually wrapped Crunch Bars are sold at the check-out counter, which means they’re supposed to be “impulse items.” Well, stifle the urge.
You can choose from the Chocolate Peanut or (our personal favorite) Yogurt Berry. Turns out the “yogurt coating” is mostly sugar and partially hydrogenated palm kernel oil, with some nonfat dry milk and yogurt culture thrown in.
Other than the sugar and oil coating, the bar is mostly crisp (that is, sweetened) rice and even more sugar. “Dried cranberries” come next in the ingredient list (they’ve got more sugar than cranberries), followed by...hmmm. Where are those blueberries and strawberries pictured on the label? They’re not in the bar, that’s for sure.
“Sustained Energy,” crows the label. Yet there’s no reason to think that the 200 calories in each bar last any longer than the 200 calories you’d get from any other food. As for the “Half the Fat of the Average of Leading Candy Bars” claim: It may be true, but you’re still talking five grams of saturated fat (a quarter of a day’s worth).
It doesn’t take too many “brain smarts” to figure out that Body Smarts are anything but.
I actually work for Pfizer and in the company store they have a ton of stuff with the Body Smarts logo. They have everything from shakes to candy, granola mix, bars, some sort of gummy bears. Never tried them because of the sugar but I hear they are pretty disgusting anyway.
Posted by: I Are Baboon
I saw those a while back in a flyer in the Sunday paper. My first thought was "Candy bar with vitamins." You're better off eating a plain granola bar or a PowerBar.