Food bar with Canadian sweetener aids athletes in the gym: study

Bill Smith, senior vice-president of BioNeutra with a bottle of VitaFiber sweetener.
PHOTO: ROBERT BRAY

COLLEGE STATION, Tex. — A team of eleven researchers from Texas A&M University has concluded a food bar containing whey protein and a  Canadian-made sweetener called VitaFiber helps gym enthusiasts engaged in a range of high-performance gym exercises.

The study, which was published in a peer-reviewed sports nutrition journal and listed on the National Institutes of Health clinical trial website/clinicaltrials.gov, focused on nutritional sports bars. Its purpose was to determine the glycemic and insulin reaction from eating the food bar compared to a standard dextrose preparation.

The researchers recruited 12 highly trained males with athletic backgrounds between the ages of 18-35 with a Body Mass Index less than 25 kg/m2. As a condition for enrolment they had to bench press their body weight, barbell squat at least 1.5 times their body weight and be in sprint condition. All participants were former high school or college athletes.

The researchers found there was some evidence the food bar with VitaFiber, developed and made by BioNeutra North America in Edmonton, helps maintain workout performance and lessen perceptions of muscle soreness. A common complaint with some energy products used by gym-goers is they provide a rush and then a crash. The study demonstrated the food bar didn’t result in high variability of glucose and insulin levels, so athletes didn’t experience peaks and valleys.

The pilot study was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-019-0301-z).

BioNeutra was not involved in the study.

VitaFiber, a low calorie, natural sweetener and prebiotic dietary fibre, is made using a patented process that converts pea or tapioca starch into a syrup or powder used by more than 200 US and European manufacturers in protein bars, ice cream, yogurt, beverages and confections.

BioNeutra said research conducted on VitaFiber IMO (Isomalto-oligosaccharide) has been submitted to the world’s top three health regulatory bodies, which has approved it for sale in more than 30 countries.