Nutrition Bars: Nutrition Bar Notables

While fiber has a high place in the nutrition bar industry, there’s still room for a wealth of other functional ingredients-and new innovations are changing the market as we speak. Check out some of the notables, below.

Carnitine: It may not be the most likely ingredient for a nutrition bar, but L-carnitine is now ready for bars. Earlier this year, Lonza (Basel, Switzerland) presented nutrition bars formulated with the company’s Carnipure brand L-carnitine at the Healthy & Nutritional Bars Conference in Cologne, Germany. Since then, the company has signed a multiyear deal on Carnipure with the British sports food company Multipower (Surrey, UK). Research suggests that L-carnitine may be an aid for exercise recovery and energy metabolism.

Pea protein: Consumers are often looking for a protein fix in their bars, but what about an alternative to whey and soy? What about peas? Nutralys is a protein source derived from yellow peas and suited for nutrition bars. Roquette America Inc. (Keokuk, IA), the group behind Nutralys, says that its pea protein provides dispersibility benefits and cost-effectiveness compared to soy and whey. Nutralys was recently named a recipient of Frost & Sullivan’s 2010 product-differentiation excellence award for its achievement of a more-neutral taste and odor profile for pea protein. 

Omega-3s: In your milk and in your bread, omega-3s are showing up everywhere-and for good reason: they’re believed to have some serious health benefits, including for the heart and eyes. This is all part of why Cargill (Minneapolis) just introduced its Clear Valley brand omega-3 oil for nutrition bars. Clear Valley omega-3 oil is a blend of canola oil and flaxseed oil intended to allow customers the use of nutrient content claims related to alpha-linolenic (ALA) omega-3. The omega-3 oil is patent-pending and was recently self-affirmed as GRAS.