Mega-food manufacturer Kraft is behind the “LiveActive” brand of functional foods, which are designed to promote “digestive health.”\u00a0 The products in the line are fortified with probiotic, “good” bacteria and\/or prebiotic fiber.\u00a0 The Chewy Granola Bars are unusual, in that the probiotic culture they’re fortified with does not require refrigeration.\u00a0 The bars come in three flavors: Chocolate Raspberry, Peanut Butter, and Blueberry Almond.<\/p>\n
Manufacturer’s Description:<\/strong> LiveActive<\/em> Chewy Granola Bars are moist, rich, and delicious but they’re more than a great-tasting treat. They help naturally promote digestive health in two ways. First, they\u2019re a good source of fiber*. Second, like many familiar foods \u2013 including some breakfast cereals and yogurt \u2013 LiveActive<\/em> Bars contain a beneficial probiotic culture. What\u2019s more, they require no refrigeration, so you can enjoy them anywhere, anytime. Get delicious digestive health on-the-go with LiveActive<\/em> Bars.<\/p>\n Product Label:<\/strong><\/p>\n Comments:<\/strong> I picked up a box of 5 Peanut Butter LiveActive bars at my local Fred Meyer for $3.00.\u00a0 The bars are individually wrapped, and on the small size, so\u00a0are easy to slip into a pocket, purse or lunch box for on-the-go snacking.\u00a0 They looked like typical granola bars, with a peanut-butter-y base layer.\u00a0 They were both chewy and crunchy, with an appropriately sweet, peanutty taste.\u00a0 If you like commercial granola bars, then you’ll like these.<\/p>\n One thing I noticed, however, is that the boxes on display in the store\u00a0were already past the “best when used by” date (04JAN09, in my case).\u00a0 This is one downside, I think, of selling an unrefrigerated probiotic – the shelf life of the culture is going to be much shorter than that of a normal granola bar – something store personnel are less likely to take into account when ordering and stocking the shelves.\u00a0 This is something a potential purchaser needs to watch out for…assuming the probiotic culture used in the product has any value in the first place.<\/p>\n Does it?\u00a0 It’s an interesting – and open – question.\u00a0 While Kraft has supporting literature for the LiveActive cheese, the company is completely silent on the question of the activity, potency, and effects of the “Probi AB” culture added to the bars.\u00a0 How many live organisms are in each bar?\u00a0 How many bars\/day are needed for optimal results?\u00a0 There is no information on either the box or the web site.<\/p>\n So, are there really significant “digestive health” benefits to be had from the LiveActive bars?\u00a0 They are a good (although not great) source of prebiotic (and total) fiber, but otherwise, it’s a tough call.\u00a0 And – needless to state – the bars don’t offer much w\/respect to other nutrients: protein, vitamins and\/or minerals.\u00a0<\/p>\n My “gut” feeling (no pun intended), is that the probiotic content of the LiveActive bars is overrated…if\u00a0the bars actually contained a significant dose of active, probiotic bacteria, I don’t see why Kraft wouldn’t tell us all about it…but in this case, the silence is deafening.\u00a0 Thus, I’d say these bars are probably better for you than a candy bar (thanks to the lower sugar\/fat and higher fiber), but are NOT a substitute for a good probiotic supplement or more nutritious food products containing live cultures (such as kefir or yogurt).<\/p>\n [usrlist “Taste:4.0” “Quality:3.0” “Efficacy:2.5” “Value:3.0″ avg=”true”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mega-food manufacturer Kraft is behind the “LiveActive” brand of functional foods, which are designed to promote “digestive health.”\u00a0 The products in the line are fortified with probiotic, “good” […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,8],"tags":[69,92,145,209,212],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatefatburner.com\/functional-foods\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n
\n Serving Size 1 Bar (35g)
\nServings Per Container 5
\nCalories 140
\nTotal Fat 4.5g
\nSaturated Fat 2g
\nTrans Fat 0g
\nCholesterol 0mg
\nSodium 125mg<\/td>\nTotal Carbohydrate 25g
\nDietary Fiber 4g
\nSugars 7g
\nProtein 3g
\nVitamin A 0%
\nVitamin C 0%
\nCalcium 0%
\nIron 2%<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n \nIngredients:<\/strong> Granola [Whole Grain Rolled Oats, Crisped Rice (Rice, Rice Flour, Sugar, Malt Extract, Rice Bran, Salt, Barley Malt, Corn Syrup), Multigrain Crisp (Whole Grain Wheat Flour, Degermed Yellow Corn Meal, Whole Grain Oat Flour, Salt), Wheat Flakes (Whole Grain Wheat, Sugar, Salt, Barley Malt)], Corn Syrup, Sugar, Glycerin, Inulin (for Fiber), Peanut Butter (Roasted Ground Peanuts), Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Partially Defatted Peanut Flour, Contains less than 2% of Sodium Caseinate, Soy Lecithin, Nonfat Milk, Salt, High Oleic Sunflower Oil, Butter (Cream, Salt), Whey, Peanut Oil, Sesame Oil, Palm Oil, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Mono- and Diglycerides, L. plantarum<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n