How much protein in protein bars?

In this post, we will explore how much protein we can expect to find in a protein bar.

We start our journey with a messy database of "protein bars" that can be found in the web.
The database contains almost 1000 entries, but the data consistency is very poor and only 552 of them seem to contain nutritional information from which we can reliably parse the protein content, in grams.
At a glance, we can see that some entries represent similar bars in different flavors, and a few are just the same product with different packaging. However, the database seems varied enough to extract some information.

The first question that comes to mind is clearly: how much protein can we get from a bar?
The answer is in this plot:

The first question this plot rises is: are there protein bars with no protein?
This is part of the reason why we called this a database of "protein bars": some entries are not even actual bars! Like PROBAR Organic Energy Chews, which despite the brand name are clearly gummies. And of course not all bars are aimed at bodybuilders, like the Clif Kid Zbar Granola, with a grand total of 2g of proteins per serving.
But this is not much of an issue: after all we are interested in the top of the chart. And here we can see a some clear winner: the king of the chart are the MET-Rx Big 100 with a whopping 32g of protein per bar!

To visualize the different options in the high-protein range, in the next chart we have highlighted the main brands that provide multiple options in the 20g+ category.

Coming close to the top we find FITCRUNCH, with a 30g bar and JiMMY! with 25 grams.
Under that we see a spike with many bars aiming for 20g, including multiple options from One, Quest, and Pure Protein, among the others.

But of course the total protein content is only part of the story. After all the 32g of proteins of the best bar come with 410 Calories.
You might want to maximize the protein per calorie, or maybe the protein per gram of Carbs.
If you are interested in this sort of analysis, be sure to try our search tool, that lets you explore our database according to your favorite options.
And stay tuned for more insights in the world of protein bars!