After reading a number of confusing reviews that highlight LARGE discrepancies in sugars, organics and nutrition contents, I decided to investigate for myself.
I compared Earth's Best Apple snack bars (my little guy's favorite) with Health Valley Apple Cobble cereal bars and Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Apple Cinnamon.
Packaging:
Earth's Best snack bars are KID-sized. Only 19g.
The other two are 37g each.
As most parents know, having things in smaller packages is handy because kids often don't eat all of what you give them. So unless you always remember to carry extra baggies or storage containers around, Earth's Best has the no-waste edge.
***For the rest of this review, the numbers I give for Earth's best are based on a doubling of serving size from 19g to 38g so as to be on relative equal footing with the other two bars***
Sugars:
Nutri-Grain (NG): 12g
Health Valley (HV): 16g
Earth's Best (E'sB): 18g
So, yes, Earth's best does have the highest sugar content of the three, but that's assuming your child will eat the whole 37/38g worth of bar.
Mine won't.
And, if you consider the source of the sugars (which, believe it or not, matters to some people), Health Valley and Earth's Best derive theirs primarily from evaporated can juice, honey, and the apple itself.
Nutri-Grain lists high-fructose corn syrup and plain ol' sugar almost a dozen ingredients before you actually see 'apple puree' listed.
One final sugar note, when ANY kind of fruit is reduced to a concentrate, its level of sugar (fructose) becomes concentrated as well. That's why it may take a whole apple to equal the same amount of sugar found in a couple of tablespoons of the concentrated apple found in a processed snack.
Ingredients:
Just a reminder, what's listed first on the ingredients label is what the product contains the most of, and so on down to the bottom.
If you think your child is eating an apple snack bar, then apple should be the first thing list, not near the last.
Organics:
Read the labels thoroughly.
Healthy Vally claims 70% organic.
Earth's Best claims made with Organic Whole Wheat.
Neither of these items claims to be 'ORGANIC' in its entirety. So don't be miffed if you see the word and think it means the whole product only to find out it doesn't.
Other Nutrition consideration:
Fiber: This is the one truly weak point of Earth's Best. It list NONE. The other two each list 3g. Now, I'm not 100% certain that 0g for the E'sB 19g serving also means 0g for a double serving, but it's safe to assume that it would still be less than 1g.
Vitamins: E'sB wins this one. Narrowly beating out Nutri-grain with added Zinc, Iron, Thiamin and Folic Acid, though a tad less on Riboflavin and Niacin.
Health Valley has modest amounts of vitamins, but nothing to compare with the other two.
This said, if you're the kind of parent who is truly concerned about a well-balanced diet, you know that the value of vitamins from these sources isn't as good as getting them from fresh fruits and vegetables, so don't bank on these bars as a multivitamin alternative.
Sodium:
NG: 110mg
HV: 85mg
E'sB: 90mg (45mg/19g)
Protein:
At the 37/38g serving size, all offer 2g.
Total carbs:
NG: 24g (8%)
HV: 27g (9%)
E'sB: 28g (9%)...but 14g/19g serving size
Calories:
NG: 120
HV: 130
E'sB: 140...70/19g serving size
And an added note on calories: kids are active little things and hardly want to sit to eat or do anything to take away from their play/work.
While I do prefer to give my little guy as much 'fresh' stuff as possible (and I give him a fair amount), he fills up on it, but burns through the energy (i.e. calories) quickly and is loathe to pause long to eat again.
This said, when you can find a SMALL, tasty supplemental snack that's relatively healthy and also packs on the calories for your little one, then you often stick with it.
The Verdict:
If cost is the most important factor when choosing a cereal bar, then, yes, Nutri-Grain is likely your best bet.
If convenience of size and nutritional content drive you (despite cost), then Earth's Best is definitely the way to go.
Health Valley has it's taste merits, but lacks in other ways.
I 100% believe of the value of paying a little more for Earth's Best smaller bars because it provides a compact, calorie and nutrient rich snack that is fairly healthy.
I started buying these when my twins were twothey LOVE them! It's a great, healthy snack for on-the-go. The only complaint I have is that they are extremely crumbly, so beware! With that said, I would definitely recommend these... they are soft and chewy and very tasty!
Buy Earth's Best Organic Sunny Days Snack Bars, 5.3 Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6) Now
I like buying the Earth's Best bars for my toddler, because they don't contain high fructose corn syrup. They're one of the few cereal bar brands that don't have it. Plus, my son loves the taste of these bars!
Read Best Reviews of Earth's Best Organic Sunny Days Snack Bars, 5.3 Ounce Boxes (Pack of 6) Here
We received two of the Earth's Best Bars in a holiday gift bag for our toddler. In an 18 gram bar, there were about 6 grams of sugar--a full third of the bar is sugar. No wonder there are rave reviews about how much the toddlers are enjoying them!
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My daughter loves these and eats at least 2 a day. I ordered them in bulk from Amazon but was able to find an awesome deal at a local store where they were buy 1 get 1 free. I bought every one of them :)
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