How to tell if a muesli bar is healthy

How healthy is your muesli bar? Photo: Getty Images

Want to know if a nutrition bar is really, well, nutritious? We went to Dr Alexandra Caspero, founder of Delicious Knowledge, to see what she looks for when picking them out on her own.

Here are her criteria for a grab-and-go bar that's actually healthy:

KJS:
If you're eating the bar as a snack, you want it to be about 800 kilojoules although Caspero says she will go up to 1,000 if the bar is fruit- and nut-based. "Those items tend to have more kilojoules but are also nutrient-dense," she says.

"There is a huge difference to me in 800 kilojoules of cashews versus 800 kilojoules of puffed rice." If your bar is standing in for your lunch, you can go up to 1,600 kJs.

"For my busy clients, I sometimes recommend adding to the nutrition bars for a full meal," says Caspero. For example, having an apple, string cheese, or yogurt and a bar made of whole foods can make a great breakfast or lunch.

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PROTEIN:
Four to five grams of protein will help keep you satisfied if you're eating a bar as a snack. If you're having one as a meal replacement, look for 15 or more grams of this filling nutrient.

FIBRE:
"I look at the ingredients list first on this one to determine where the fibre is coming from," says Caspero. "Is it from inulin [a component food manufacturers sometimes use to up their products' fibre content] or dried fruit?

There are a few bars out there masquerading as 'health bars' because they have added fibre. Just because they list six-plus grams doesn't mean they're a good choice. I like to see three-plus grams from [whole-food ingredients] for fibre."

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FAT:
"I hate to sound like a broken record, but honestly, ingredients are so, so important," says Caspero. If the fat is coming from oil or nuts, Caspero's okay with the fat count, and even the saturated fat count, being a little higher. "For my nut-based bars, 10 to 11 grams of fat is a good range, with about two grams of saturated fat," she says. "For others, five to six grams is a good range to look for."

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SUGAR:
If the sweet stuff is coming from dried fruits like dates, cranberries, and raisins, you'll be getting extra nutrients along with it so 10 to 12 grams of sugar is okay. But if glucose, honey, or agave are high on the list of ingredients, you might want to skip the bar altogether (or at least make sure it packs no more than six to seven grams of sugar).

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SODIUM:
Nutrition bars in general tend to be pretty low in sodium, especially if they're made from whole foods. Caspero suggests picking a bar with no more than 200 milligrams—or 100 milligrams if you have a medical condition that requires you monitor your sodium intake really closely.

Still, Caspero doesn't think a bar that falls out of range for any one of these categories should necessarily be off-limits. "I like to look at food in a larger picture, not just nutrient by nutrient," she says.