Regular balanced protein intake is essential in managing the overall health of the human body. The body uses protein for a variety of different purposes, from healing wounds to building new lean muscle mass.
The average adult male requires around 60 grams of protein every day in order to remain healthy, while the average adult female requires a little less, at about 45 grams of protein daily. If you’re trying to gain muscle mass, this number can be up to 30% higher.
Gaining all of the protein you need from dietary intake alone can be exceptionally difficult. The average chicken breast contains only half the daily recommended minimum of protein, so in order to give your body the protein it needs it’s essential to eat a large volume of food. Fortunately, there are a number of different dietary aids that can be used to boost protein intake and make hitting your daily macronutrient requirements easy.
Protein powders and protein shakes are one of the most popular ways to boost protein intake, offering health conscious consumers and fitness enthusiasts a cost-effective and low-carbohydrate method of increasing protein consumption quickly and easily.
Protein bars are the next most popular option, but in many cases are not particularly tasty, with a reputation for being dry, crumble, or lacking in flavor. Protein bars aren’t the healthiest option when compared to protein shakes, but are a great way to indulge on cheat day without throwing your macros out of balance.
A new protein solution from Mars, however, is presenting fitness enthusiasts with a delicious combination of Snickers and Mars candy bars and protein supplementation. The new Snickers and Mars Protein Bars are nutritious, high protein candy bars that combine the best aspects of Mars and Snickers bars with a high-protein dietary boost.
In this article, we’ll take a look at the Snickers And Mars Protein Bars and see how they measure up against traditional protein bars to help you decide whether they’re the right cheat day protein boost for you.
What Are Snickers And Mars Protein Bars?
Having maintained a strong presence in the chocolate and confectionery industry for decades as the provider of the world’s most popular chocolate bar, Mars has made a move into the world of protein supplementation with a range of new protein supplement bars that offer a similar recipe to traditional Snickers and Mars bars, with a gains-boosting protein bump.
The Mars protein bar range consists of only two bars- a Snickers protein bar, and a Mars protein bar. While it’s clear that Mars don’t intend for their protein supplement solution to function as a fully-fledged entry into the health supplement market, both bars offer an interesting fusion between candy bar and protein supplement, which in some cases could function as a useful occasional treat.
Depending on the diet you’re currently on, whether you’re bulking or cutting, cheat days are a common dietary tool in which a dieter is able to indulge in a day of “guilt foods” that make it easier to control food cravings. Cheat days have been proven to help dieters manage willpower and sustain long term healthy dietary habits. Cheat days often allow for the occasional candy bar to indulge in chocolate cravings, and the Snickers and Mars Protein Bars appear to be marketed toward individuals that follow these dietary habits.
The Snickers Protein Bar, as can be expected of a Snickers product, consists of a chocolate-coated caramel layer with peanuts, but in the case of the Protein Bar solution, is built around a chocolate-flavored protein base. The Mars Protein Bar is similarly constructed, offering the same flavor and ingredient profile as the traditional Mars bar with a hefty dose of protein.
How does the Snickers and Mars Protein Bar range stack up when compared to other protein bar solutions, however? We’ll proceed to break down the nutritional profile of the bars to find out.
Snickers And Mars Protein Bars Nutrition Profile
When it comes to protein content, the Snickers and Mars Protein Bars definitely deliver on the promises they make. Both the Snickers And Mars Protein Bars contain a 18.2 gram dose of protein sourced from milk protein isolate, milk protein, whey protein concentrate, and soya lecithin. This is roughly the same amount of protein that can be found in one scoop of any average whey protein isolate brand, but the ingredient list throws up a few red flags that should be mentioned.
As the protein in the Snickers and Mars Protein Bar range is sourced from milk, it’s not suitable for lactose intolerant individuals, or those that experience digestive issues due to milk protein. The formula also contains soya lecithin protein, which is derived from the soy plant.
Soy is typically best avoided in any regular supplement, as it contains estrogenic compounds that have been clinically proven to lower testosterone and increase the production of estrogen, the female hormone, in the male body.
The Snickers and Mars Protein Bars also contain a massive dose of sugar- precisely 18.4 grams, which is more than the total protein content of the bar. This sugar is composed of a blend of Glucose Syrup, Invert Sugar Syrup, Fructo-Oligosaccharides, Humectants, and processed sugar, all of which are terrible for the endocrine system, the insulin response of the body, and exceed the daily recommended sugar intake.
Snickers And Mars Protein Bars Verdict
Despite the fact that the Snickers & Mars Protein Bars are rich in sugar and estrogenic compounds, they won’t do any harm when used as an occasional treat. The occasional candy bar is fine for the body in moderation, and the Mars and Snickers Protein Bars provide a protein-rich solution that can be used to indulge yourself without disrupting protein intake macros but they’re probably not the ideal solution for daily protein supplementation.
