1. Granola and Breakfast Bars
Georgia 4-H Cotton Boll and Consumer Judging 2017

2. Granola/Breakfast Bars
Today, granola and breakfast bars are more than just oats and chocolate chips. You can find a wide range of flavors, as well as chewy, crunchy, and nutty varieties, in stores today. The choices can be overwhelming!
Bars are always a popular choice because they are quick and convenient, and it is easy to grab them as breakfast on the go or pack them as a snack to eat later.
The good news is that granola/breakfast bars can be good source of energy that will keep you feeling full. They provide a convenient way to get a few of daily My Plate food group needs met, as well as fiber. However, some food manufacturers add lots of extra sugar, fat, or other unnecessary ingredients with few vitamins, minerals, protein, or fiber.
Granola/breakfast bars can be economical or very costly. It can be important to compare prices and consider how many bars you will get for the price. With all the options, it can be hard to know which granola/breakfast bar is the best choice for you and your situation. The following information will help you choose a healthy and affordable bar to meet your specific needs.

3. Cost
The cost of granola/breakfast bars can vary according to the packaging, brand name, and ingredients. In convenience stores, granola/breakfast bars are sold as a single serving that is wrapped, so you can compare the prices for one serving easily by looking at the price sticker.
In grocery stores, often they are sold in a box that contains 5 to 12 individually‐wrapped servings. In this situation, you should compare cost per serving.
Sometimes the serving is one bar. Sometimes the serving is a package of 2 to 4 bars.
To determine the price per serving, check the Nutrition Facts label to see how many servings are in the container (Servings per container).
Divide the price by the number of servings to determine the price per serving. For example, a box of granola/breakfast bars that costs $3.00 and has 6 servings would cost $0.50 per serving ($3.00/6 servings = $0.50 per serving).
Some granola/breakfast bars may cost a little more than others, but spending a little more money to make a healthier choice when you are having a granola/breakfast bar for a meal or snack is generally a better investment in your health.

4. Nutritional Value
Whether you are choosing your bar for a snack or to have as a meal will influence the nutritional value you should expect from your granola/breakfast bar.
Remember, meals are where we get most of our energy (calories) and nutrition (carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins, minerals).
Snacks should provide fewer calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

5. My Plate Food Groups
Granola/breakfast bars are typically made primarily from different types of grains. Some bars may have nuts (protein foods) or dried fruit in them, but it would not be enough for a serving of protein or fruit for My Plate.
If you want to have a bar for breakfast, you can eat it with low‐fat or non‐fat dairy food like yogurt or a glass of milk and/or fruit to get more My Plate food groups into the meal.
Remember, grains can provide healthy carbohydrates, fiber, B vitamins, and the essential mineral iron. Nuts are also a good source of B vitamins and iron, as well as the mineral magnesium. Fiber and iron will always be listed on the nutrition label, so look for granola bars that have more of these healthy nutrients. B vitamins and magnesium can be listed on a nutrition label, but it is not required.
Many foods contain these nutrients even though they are not listed on the label. So, don’t use B vitamins or magnesium as a deciding factor between bars, unless all bars you are comparing have the magnesium and B vitamin information listed on the label.

6. What role do Calories: Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein play?
When a granola/breakfast bar will be a meal, you will need a few more calories, carbohydrates, protein, and fat than when a granola bar might be a snack.
Reading the Nutrition Facts label on products lets you know how many total calories are in each serving and where the calories come from.
Carbohydrate and protein provide 4 calories per gram, while fat provides 9 calories per gram.

7. Calories
Consider the calories per amount you or someone else plans to eat. This might be per unit (like when you buy a single granola bar from a convenience store), or an individually‐wrapped granola/breakfast bar from a box you buy at the grocery store.
When having a bar as a snack, one serving should provide no more than about 200 calories.
When having a bar as a meal, it can have more calories. Most granola bars do not have more than 250 calories, so add a serving of dairy or fruit or protein foods to make a complete meal.

8. Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates are our bodies’ favorite source of energy and the only source of energy that your brain can use. It’s important to get carbohydrates from your food, but our bodies like some sources more than others. Look on the nutrition label to see how much total carbohydrate, sugar, and fiber a granola/breakfast bar has per serving.
Fiber
Carbohydrates from fiber are beneficial to your health by causing you to feel full for longer and helping with digestion. Eating enough fiber can also reduce your risk for heart disease. Look for granola/breakfast bars with more fiber.
Sugars
Carbohydrates from sugar are present in naturally sweet foods like fruits, but may also be added as an additional ingredient to further sweeten the flavor of a food. Many granola/breakfast bars contain dried fruit like raisins, cranberries, blueberries, or apple. Some may have a fruit puree in the center. The fruit provides a quick energy boost from the natural sugar and often brings some vitamins and fiber along with it. On the other hand, often extra sugar is added to granola/breakfast bars. This added sugar only supplies calories with few or no nutrients and no dietary fiber. Sugars are listed on the nutrition label under carbohydrates. You can find out if a product has sugar added by looking at the ingredient list for sugar. However, added sugars may be listed by names other than sugar, such as dextrose, fructose, brown rice syrup, cane syrup, corn syrup, and cane juice.

9. Fat
Our bodies need fat to provide energy and carry nutrients, but not too much. Some types of fat are better for our health than others.
Saturated fat and trans fat are bad for your heart health. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that you limit saturated fat to less than 10% of calories, and that you avoid trans fat.
Look for granola bars lower in saturated fat and contain zero grams trans fat.
If you look at the ingredient list, you do NOT want to find “partially hydrogenated oils” listed, as these are sources of trans fat.

10. Protein
Protein does so many things in your body, but it is best known for helping you build muscle. Protein also may help you feel full for longer.
When a granola/breakfast bar is going to be a meal, you’ll definitely want it to have some protein. If it will be a snack, it may not have as much protein, and that’s OK.
In general, choose granola bars with more protein.

11. Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamins and minerals are listed on nutrition labels as a percent daily value (%DV). The goal is to get 100% of the DV from foods each day.
Of the four vitamins and minerals listed on the Nutrition label, granola/breakfast bars usually provide iron and sometimes calcium. These are two important minerals.
iron helps blood circulation and energy levels
calcium helps build strong bones.

12. Salt
Our bodies need sodium (salt) to function, but getting too much leads to high blood pressure and is harmful to your health.
The 2015 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and MyPlate recommend that you consume no more than 2300 milligrams (mg) of sodium per day. Be sure to check the label and choose granola/breakfast bars that are lower in sodium.

13. Ingredients
Granola/breakfast bars are typically made from grains, and some might contain nuts, dried fruit, and/or chocolate. Many bars contain more additives than is necessary to get your daily nutrition needs met.
Grains
The first ingredient in a granola/breakfast bar is likely to be some kind of grain, like oats, oat flour, wheat flour, or a “blend” of grains. With grains, you want to choose whole grains as often as you can instead of refined grains. Whole grains contain the whole grain kernel, and therefore have more fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
Refined grains have been processed to remove certain parts of the grain kernel, so they do not have as many nutrients. When reading the ingredient list, the grain ingredient at the top of the ingredient list should include the word “whole.” This means that it contains more whole grains.
You may also see enriched grains in the ingredient list, but they are not whole grains. Enriched grains are processed, which removes the fiber, but some of the vitamins and minerals are added back. So, most importantly, the first ingredient, or the first ingredient after water should be a whole grain.

14. Ingredients (cont.)
Added Sugar
As mentioned in the carbohydrate section, often sugar is added to granola/breakfast bars.
The ingredient list can help identify the sneaky sources of sugar in the product.
Here are some common names for sugar you may find in the ingredient list:
Although some of these might sound healthier, like honey or brown rice syrup, they are all basically the same to your body– sources of added sugar that we want to limit in the foods we eat.
sugar
Dextrose
brown sugar
Fructose
brown rice syrup
Honey
cane syrup
Molasses
corn syrup
evaporated cane juice
high fructose corn syrup