Scientific Food Review: Nature Valley crunchy granola bars “Roasted Almond”

In this post & video I am going to do the “Scientific” Food Review of Nature Valley Crunchy Granola Bars, “Roasted Almond”.

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Table of Contents

About the Brand & Company | Nutrition & Health | Drawbacks | Strengths | Sensory Appeal | Pricing | Convenience | Ingredients | Conclusion |

About the Brand & Company

Nature valley brand is owned by General mills, Inc. This company is an American multinational company headquartered at Golden Valley, Minnesota.

Nature Valley first released their granola cereal in 1973. General mills with the Nature Valley brand became the first major company to sell granola bars in the year 1975.

The slogan of the Nature Valley granola bars is “We are better outside”. The granola bars can easily fit into the pocket and are designed to be an on-the-go snack.

There are different variants of granola bars such as Crunchy, Protein, Fruit & Nut, Sweet & Salty, Sustained energy bars to name a few.

The review unit was manufactured in Spain. It was imported to India and sold by General Mills India Private Ltd.

Nutrition & Health

World Health Organization proposed nutrient intake goals for preventing diet-related chronic diseases. The last column of the table depicts ranges for nutrient intake goals. (1)

For example, if a person’s daily energy requirement is 2000 kcal ideally 10-15% of that should be from protein, 15-30% should be from fat and 55-75% should be from carbohydrates.

In a day if each meal we consume is closer to these ranges it would be better for our health. If we consume 70% of our daily fat requirement in breakfast and no protein it would not be an ideal diet. Each meal should be closer to the WHO nutrient intake goals for good health.

Hence, I compare the products in the scientific food review methodology to the reference intakes of WHO.

Now let’s look at the nutritional information of the N.V. Granola bars roasted almond and compare it with WHO ranges.

Nutritional information of Nature Valley Crunchy Granola bars, Roasted Almond

	For 42 g	For 100g	WHO
Total Carbohydrates (g)	25	59.5	55-75%
Total Sugars (g)	11	26.2	<10%
Dietary Fiber (g)	2.6	6.2
Protein (g)	3.8	9.0	10-15%
Total Fat (g)	8.6	20.5	15-30%
Saturated Fatty Acids (g)	1.3	3.1	<10%
MUFA (g)	NM	NM	By Difference
PUFA (g)	NM	NM	6-10%
Trans Fatty Acids (g)	0	0	<1%
Cholesterol (mg)	NM	NM	<300 mg/day
Energy (kcal)	198	471.4
Sodium (mg)	152.9	364	<2000 mg/day

In the table you can see that protein percentage is slightly lesser than the WHO range and the sugar percentage is much higher. They are marked in red.

Now let’s look at the drawbacks and strengths of this product.

I would like to remind you an important point here.

If we look at any product in the world, there will definitely be some drawbacks. In the modern world with little free time, it will be extremely difficult to avoid all packaged foods because they have some health risks. Whenever possible I will suggest workarounds for the drawbacks of the products that I review.

Drawbacks:

1. Though the total carbohydrates percentage is within the range of WHO intake goals the percentage of sugars is really high. Out of 100 grams of the product a whopping 26.2 grams of it is sugar. As per the WHO intake goals the energy from the sugars ideally be below 10% of the total energy consumption in a day.
2. The nutritional information of the product does not contain any information about vitamins and minerals. I feel these bars contain little to no micronutrients. Consuming these frequently can significantly reduce the overall diet quality. So, I would suggest even healthy adults to use this product occasionally when there are no better alternatives.
3. It would have been better if the protein content is slightly higher.
4. This product contains oats & almond. It may also contain some allergens such as pea nuts, soy, and tree nuts. If you are allergic to any of them it would be better to avoid this product.

Strengths:

1. The bars contain 100% wholegrain rolled oats.
2. The fat content (which is 20.5%) is within the right range (i.e., 15-30%).
3. The bars do not contain any colours and artificial preservatives. Even the added flavour is natural.
4. The bars are Lactose free.
5. They do not contain any Trans fat.
6. The energy provided by one serving of the product is not very high.
7. They contain moderately good amount of dietary fibre.
8. Though the bars contain Sodium, it’s quantity in a serving is quite less compared to other snacks.

Sensory Appeal:

Appearance

N.V. granola bars are in a nice brown colour. We can see the wholegrain rolled oats on the surface. Almond pieces with the outer layer can also be seen on the surface.

The bars are in rectangular shape with small particle size.

Texture

The bars are crunchy and need little bite force with incisors. Though the bars have a dense texture the breaking force required is small.

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Flavour

The bars have a mild to moderate flavour of oats. Initially the flavour of oats is dominant but as we continue to eat the sweet taste of sugar overtakes. After some time, I felt only (mostly) the flavour of sugar.

The product was given a best before date of 10 months from the manufacturing. At the time of this review, it is 7 months old. I could not notice any rancid or off-flavour in the product.

Though the variant of the product is “roasted almond” I almost never felt the flavour of it. I regularly consume almonds. I tested this product multiple times to sense the almond flavour. But I feel the flavour of oats and sugar seriously dominated the almond flavour. Nonetheless the product tastes good.

I also tried to consume a bar with plain cold milk by dipping in it. The taste was quite good.

Pricing

Granola bars (roasted almond) are available in India. For a box of 12 bars weighing 252 grams the maximum retail price is 360 Indian rupees. This product costs premium as compared to similar products from competitors in India.

Looking at the choice of the ingredients I feel that the price of this product can definitely be reduced. This product contains quite a lot of sugar and is the second most ingredient in use (in terms of weight). One of the reasons for higher cost probably can also be the import duties as this product was imported from Spain.

The product is available at most of the online stores in India at a slight discount (around 10%) during the time of this review.

Convenience

A food product performs well in the convenience section when

1. The preparation time required to consume it is as less as possible and
2. The preparation needs very little mental & physical effort.

This product performs exceptionally well in the convenience section. It is a ready to eat product and needs no time for preparation or cooking. When we have no patience to cook something but are hungry, we can happily consume it.

The box contains six packets with two bars each. A packet can easily fit into a pocket and the bars can be consumed without the need of any other utensils. These bars can be easily consumed during a small break in an office, college, or in a similar environment.

As there is no need of any cooking or a need to follow instructions to consume it the physical and mental efforts needed are zero. When you are at your home you can also consume it with milk or yogurt.

Ingredients

Wholegrain rolled oats

The major ingredient of this product is Wholegrain rolled oats (weighing 56% of the total weight). Generally wholegrain ingredients are healthier options because they contain complex carbohydrates, fibre, and other nutrients.

Rolled oats are made by lightly steaming the oat kernels and then rolled into flat flakes by using heavy rotating rollers. After this step they are air cooled to reduce their temperature and moisture content.

Sugar

Sugar is the second most ingredient of the product as per the weight. This product contains quite a lot of sugar as I already mentioned in the Nutrition & Health section of this review.

Sugar is added to the products to enhance the taste and likeability of the product. It increases the shelf life of the product as it is a natural preservative and has microbial growth inhibition characteristics. It can also significantly reduce the cost of the product as it is one of the cheapest food ingredients available in the world.

But personally, I feel it would have been a better product if it contained lesser sugar.

This product contains Sunflower oil as an ingredient and it majorly contributes to the total fat content of the product.

Almond pieces weighing 5% of the total weight of the product are present in the product.

This product also contains honey, salt, and molasses as minor ingredients. I could not sense any of them when I tasted the product.

Sunflower Lecithin (INS 322)

Lecithin is an emulsifier. Emulsifiers help form a stable mixture of two or more compounds which generally do not mix with each other.

For example, if we try to mix water and oil together, they do not form a stable solution. Emulsifiers are useful in such situations.

Commercially lecithin is obtained from eggs and soybeans. In this product the lecithin obtained from Sunflower is used. It makes this product suitable for vegetarians.

Sodium Bicarbonate (INS 500 (ii))

Sodium bicarbonate is commonly known as baking soda. It helps in softening the texture of the product by increasing the volume and forming gaps in the structure.

Conclusion

Pros:

1. Performs exceptionally well in the convenience section. A great on-the-go snack.
2. Tastes quite good and has good texture.
3. No (Trans fat, alternative sweeteners, preservatives, colours, and synthetic flavours) present in the product.

Cons:

1. Contains quite a lot of sugar.
2. Costs premium compared to other products in the market (Indian).
3. The choice of the ingredients could have been better.

Verdict:

1. This product is a highly convenient on-the-go snack with moderately good nutrition.
2. Healthy adults may consume this occasionally without any adverse health effects.
3. Children and diabetics must be cautious about the sugar content of this product.
4. Try not to use it as a meal replacement.

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