The short answer
Of 82 protein bars sold in France, two very different products carry the same name. 33 bars have 5 g of sugars or less per 100 g, but 28 of them get there thanks to a polyol, most often maltitol, which has laxative effects above a certain amount. 22 others exceed 20 g of sugars: these are energy bars for exercise, not protein snacks. None is a minimally processed food: 74 of 82 are classed as ultra-processed.
The ranking, by decreasing protein
| Brand and product | Protein | Sugars | Polyols | Palm oil |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Decathlon, High protein bar | 50 g | 1 g | yes | no |
| Sportyfeel, Protein Bar brownie | 50 g | 2.4 g | yes | yes |
| Sportyfeel, Protein Bar coconut | 50 g | 2.6 g | yes | yes |
| 2keep, Protein Bar double choco | 40 g | 7 g | yes | yes |
| Barebells, Protein Bar cookies & cream | 37 g | 2.5 g | yes | no |
| Joyfuel, peanut caramel chocolate bar | 36 g | 2.7 g | yes | yes |
| Grenade, Peanut Butter Protein Bar | 35 g | 2.3 g | yes | no |
| Lidl, Crunchy Protein Bar cookie caramel | 34 g | 4.9 g | yes | no |
| foodspring, Protein Bar hazelnut | 33 g | 3.9 g | yes | no |
| nu3, Fit Protein Bar salted caramel | 32 g | 4.2 g | yes | no |
| Bodymass, Protein Bar Muscle Mass caramel | 32 g | 15 g | yes | yes |
| Feed, vegan almond chocolate bar | 30 g | 11 g | yes | no |
| Gerlinéa, Fit & Protein | 29 g | 5 g | yes | no |
| Builders, Chocolate Peanut Butter | 29.4 g | 26.5 g | no | yes |
| Nature Valley, Protein Nut Bar fruit and chocolate | 25.6 g | 15.4 g | no | yes |
| Gerlinéa, apple blueberry bar | 25 g | 21 g | no | no |
| Decathlon, Protein Bar | 25 g | 36 g | no | no |
| RXBAR, Peanut Butter Chocolate | 23.1 g | 26.9 g | no | no |
| Nutrend, Protein Bar | 22.8 g | 26.6 g | no | yes |
| Nutripure, coconut vanilla bar | 21.2 g | 23.4 g | no | no |
| Carrefour, Crunchy Chocolate Protein Bar | 20 g | 16 g | no | no |
| Nakd, Peanut Butter Protein Bar | 17.4 g | 26.8 g | no | no |
| Clif, Crunchy Peanut Butter | 16 g | 25 g | no | no |
The same brand can sell both products. Decathlon offers a bar with 50 g of protein and 1 g of sugars, and another with 25 g of protein and 36 g of sugars. Both are called « protein bar ». The name tells you nothing; the nutrition table tells you everything.
What this table tells us
« Sugar-free » almost always means « made with maltitol »
Removing the sugar from a bar without losing the sweet taste or the texture requires a substitute. Of the 33 bars with 5 g of sugars or less, 28 contain a polyol, and 16 add sucralose to it. Maltitol has two particularities worth knowing.
It has a laxative effect. Above 10% polyols, the European regulation on food information to consumers requires the statement « excessive consumption may produce laxative effects ». Tolerance varies a lot from one person to another: one bar goes down without a problem for one person, two cause bloating in another. Manufacturers almost never give the exact content, hence the value of starting with half a bar.
It is not neutral for blood sugar. Its glycaemic index is around 35, much lower than that of sugar but far from zero, unlike erythritol. A « 1 g of sugars » bar is therefore not a bar with no effect on blood sugar. Our guide to the glycaemic index explains the difference.
Bars with more than 20 g of sugars are exercise bars
Clif, Nakd, RXBAR, Nutrend, Builders and Decathlon’s recovery bars exceed 20 g of sugars per 100 g, up to 36 g. That is not a flaw in itself: during or just after a long effort, sugars and protein together are exactly what you need. It is a flaw if you eat them at your desk at 4 pm thinking you are having a protein snack. Nakd and RXBAR also have the shortest ingredient list on the shelf, based on dates and nuts, with no additives at all.
Almost all are ultra-processed
74 bars out of 82 are in NOVA group 4, and 24 contain palm oil. Protein isolates, polyols, sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavourings: a protein bar is by design an industrial product. That does not disqualify it for occasional use, but it does not replace a food.
Protein bar or food: what it looks like in grams
A 60 g bar with 33% protein provides 20 g. According to Ciqual 2025, the same amount takes around 150 g of hard-boiled eggs, at 13.5 g of protein per 100 g, or 270 g of 0% fat fromage blanc, at 7.34 g. Two and a half eggs, or a large bowl. The bar wins on convenience, the food on everything else: no polyols, no additives, and the price per gram of protein is no comparison.
For a practical everyday intake, whey remains cheaper per gram of protein than any bar, and our protein snack ideas give alternatives you can prepare.
How to choose in thirty seconds
- Protein snack: at least 30 g of protein and less than 5 g of sugars per 100 g. Check where maltitol sits in the list, and start with half a bar if you have never eaten one.
- During or after a long effort: a bar with 20 g of sugars or more does the job very well, and short ingredient lists based on dates exist.
- To avoid in both cases: bars that combine palm oil, more than 15 g of sugars and less than 25 g of protein. They are neither good snacks nor good exercise bars.
Our sources
- Open Food Facts, collaborative database, accessed on 24/09/2026: 600 raw listings, 82 retained after checking.
- Six listings excluded because the declared energy did not match the composition, a sign of a data entry error: Joyfuel protein bar, Biofair almond, Prozis Zero Bar, nu3 Peanut Pretzel, Quest Cookies & Cream, PowerBar 30%.
- Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex III: mandatory statement of laxative effects above 10% polyols.
- Ciqual 2025 table (Anses) for hard-boiled egg and fromage blanc.