Lifeway Kefir Probiotic – Sweet n salty peanut

So, two different callouts of probiotic on the label are probably one more than necessary. But the real necessity is actually putting some salt into the product to justify the use of the name “sweet n’ salty” on the bar. Not to be too literal or anything, but it would help, as would some bigger peanut chunks. Underneath a fairly pedestrian yogurt coating – nothing to make one think Kefir in the flavor here – lies a slightly chunky nougat, but not much beyond that, except an exceptionally large number of calories for a bar this size. Make it healthier, or make it better, guys.

Calories – 240
Fat – 13 g
Protein – 7 g
Fiber – 3 g
Total Carbohydrates – 25 g

Rating: 2 of 5 stars

Lifeway Kefir Probiotic Wellness Bar: Chocolate Crisp

Despite the huge chunk of chocolate displayed on the bar’s label, this is not a candy bar. Instead, it’s a well executed bar that’s made with soy and rice crisps, flavored with a decent amount of chocolate, and covered in a coating of kefir (for the uninitiated, that’s a fermented milk product with probiotics). From a taste point of view, this bar is just about perfect, blending crunch and chew with a balanced chocolate flavor. Aside from the probiotics (10 live and active cultures – which require refrigeration while at your local retailer), the bar has 11g of protein and 1g of fiber. Packaging is clean and appealing, although we were definitely lured in by the chocolate cube which isn’t part of the bar. Overall, it’s a very enjoyable bar with great nutritional benefits.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cascade Fresh: Activ8 Cherry/Vanilla Probiotic Crunch Bar

Cascade Fresh’s Activ8 Cherry Vanilla bar is a “probiotic crunch bar”, meaning that it has 5.5 billion CFUs of live probiotic cultures in each bar. To keep these creatures living, the bar requires refrigeration, which means you’ll have to look for it in a different place than you’d normally find bars in your local retailer. As far as flavor goes, this bar is pretty heavy on peanut flavor, which is probably the most enjoyable part about the bar. Since it’s refrigerated, the bar is pretty stiff and this did have a slight impact on our level of enjoyment of the bar. They’ve added also cherry and vanilla flavoring, which doesn’t tastes like flavoring rather than the real thing. That was definitely a disappointment. Functionally, we appreciate their desire to deliver real probiotics, plus the bar has 6g of protein and 3g of fiber. Lastly, there’s the look of the bar, which is decent, but hard to read. We think they’ve missed the mark by putting “organic” in a script font, making it easy to glance over this somewhat important bit of information. Overall, an enjoyable bar that’s innovative in concept, but the use of flavorings and less than appealing packaging leave room for improvement.

Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Pop Culture Probiotics: Yogurt Fruit & Nut Bar

 This “90 calorie yogurt fruit & nut bar” is the first probiotic bar that we’ve sampled.  Flavor is surprisingly good, with a yogurt covered bottom that gives way to a pleasantly flavored body.  The chewy bar has notes of rice, oats, almonds, and flax, with added cranberries for a touch of sweetness.  Really though, the selling point are the probiotics (GanedenBC), which the bar touts as being 10x the levels of yogurt.  The bar also has 4g of fiber and 4g of protein, as well as a respectable amount of vitamin content.  Packaging is the biggest issue for this product, with a generally unappealing design that made us worry about the quality of what was inside the wrapper.  In addition, the bar’s 1 oz size might be an issue compared to larger competitors, but being under the 90 calorie mark (as advertised on the front of the label) is certainly a good differentiator.  Overall, we really enjoy the flavor, the probiotic content, and the manageable size, but we wish the outside were a bit more appealing and appetizing.