Nature Valley · Granola bars
Are Nature Valley Bars Healthy? Crunchy Oats 'n Honey Nutrition and Ingredients
Short answer
Not really. One Nature Valley Crunchy Oats 'n Honey bar (21 g) has 100 calories, 6 g of sugar, all of it added, 2 g of protein and 1 g of fiber. Whole grain oats come first, but the bar also has sugar, honey and brown sugar syrup, plus soy lecithin and natural flavor, which makes it ultra-processed (NOVA 4). Each pouch holds two bars, so most people eat twice these numbers. Truvi score (our method): 23 out of 100.
Truvi score
23/100
Bad
- Processing30/100
NOVA 4; 4 additives
- Nutrition34/100
low nutritional quality (Nutri-Score D)
- Overeating12/100
fat + sugar combo, 24% kcal sugar, calorie-dense 4.8kcal/g
Our method, from the label. 75 and up is Excellent, 50 Good, 25 Fair, below 25 Bad. How the score works
Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey nutrition facts: are they healthy?
Here is one 21 g bar, from the manufacturer's label as listed in USDA FoodData Central:
| Calories | 100 |
|---|---|
| Protein | 2 g |
| Fiber | 1 g |
| Sugar | 6 g |
| Saturated fat | 0 g |
| Salt | 0.2 g |
The good part: the first ingredient is whole grain oats, there is no saturated fat, and the bar is small, so one bar is only 100 calories.
The weaker part is the sugar. Sugar makes up 28.6 g of every 100 g, and all of it is added sugar. One bar has 6 g, about 12% of the 50 g daily value for added sugars used on US labels. A full pouch of two bars is about 24%. Protein and fiber are low for a snack people often eat instead of breakfast, at 2 g and 1 g per bar. On our calculation that gives Nutri-Score D.
The bars are also dry and calorie-dense, at 4.8 calories per gram. About 32% of the calories come from fat and 24% from sugar. Research on hyperpalatable foods uses more than 20% of calories from fat together with more than 20% from sugar as one marker of foods that are easy to overeat, and this bar meets it. That is why the overeating part of the Truvi score is low.
Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey ingredients
There are 10 ingredients, in this order:
- Whole grain oats. the main ingredient, and the source of most of the fiber.
- Sugar. the second ingredient, so there is more sugar than oil, rice flour or honey.
- Canola and/or sunflower oil. refined seed oil that binds the oats and makes the bar crunchy.
- Rice flour. a refined flour that helps hold the bar together.
- Honey and brown sugar syrup. two more sweeteners, so the bar has three sources of added sugar in total.
- Salt and baking soda. for taste and texture.
- Soy lecithin. an emulsifier that helps the oil and the rest of the mix stay blended.
- Natural flavor. added flavoring, the last ingredient on the list.
The label lists soy. Check the box for any extra allergen notes before you buy.
Are Nature Valley granola bars ultra-processed?
This one is. NOVA, the food-processing scale used in nutrition research, puts foods made by simply adding sugar, oil or salt to a whole food in group 3, processed foods. Oats with honey and oil, baked into a bar, would land there.
Group 4, ultra-processed, is for foods that also contain ingredients mostly made for industry, such as emulsifiers and flavorings, which the NOVA authors describe as cosmetic additives. Soy lecithin and natural flavor are on this label, so the bar moves to group 4. The processing part of the Truvi score is 30 out of 100 for that reason.
Ultra-processed does not mean every ingredient is bad. It means the recipe is built the industrial way, and in this bar that comes with a lot of added sugar.
Better granola bars to try instead
These bars from the same aisle score higher on the same scale. The two Over Easy bars and Autumn's Gold have no additives on the label and are processed (NOVA 3), not ultra-processed. The Kashi and Cascadian Farm bars are still NOVA 4, but they have about half the sugar per gram.
-
Over Easy Overeasy Banana Nut Breakfast Bar
A bigger bar with much more protein and fiber. Per 52 g bar: 230 calories, 8 g protein, 7 g fiber and 10 g sugar, with no additives on the label.
68Good
-
Over Easy Banana Nut Breakfast Bars
Another Over Easy Banana Nut box. Per 52 g bar: 230 calories, 9 g protein, 7 g fiber and 9 g sugar, no additives.
63Good
-
Kashi Chewy Bars Chewy Peanut Butter Gran 7.4oz
A chewy bar with 6 g sugar, 4 g protein and 4 g fiber per 35 g bar. It is still ultra-processed and lists several additives, including glycerin and xanthan gum.
51Good
-
Cascadian Farm Cinnamon Apple Chewy Bar
A chewy bar with 5 g sugar, 3 g protein and 2 g fiber per 34 g bar. Also ultra-processed, with lecithin, gum and glycerin on the label.
41Fair
-
Autumn's Gold Cinnamon Almond Grain Free Granola Bars
Grain free, made mostly from nuts and seeds. Per 35 g bar: 210 calories, 5 g protein, 3 g fiber and 6 g sugar. Higher in fat and saturated fat than the Nature Valley bar.
52Good
Full ingredient list and nutrition
Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Canola and/or Sunflower Oil, Rice Flour, Honey, Salt, Brown Sugar Syrup, Baking Soda, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor.
| Energy | 476 kcal |
|---|---|
| Fat | 16.7 g |
| of which saturated | 0 g |
| Carbohydrates | 71.4 g |
| of which sugars | 28.6 g |
| Fiber | 4.8 g |
| Protein | 9.5 g |
| Salt | 0.83 g |
Questions people ask
Are Nature Valley bars healthy?
The Crunchy Oats 'n Honey bar is not a healthy pick. Whole grain oats come first, but each 21 g bar has 6 g of added sugar, only 2 g of protein and 1 g of fiber, and the bar is ultra-processed (NOVA 4). Truvi scores it 23 out of 100.
Are Nature Valley granola bars ultra-processed?
Yes, the Crunchy Oats 'n Honey bar is NOVA 4. Its label lists soy lecithin, an emulsifier, and natural flavor. Under NOVA, ingredients like these mark a food as ultra-processed.
How many calories are in a Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey bar?
One 21 g bar has 100 calories. A pouch has two bars, so a full pouch is about 200 calories.
How much sugar is in a Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey bar?
6 g per bar, and all of it is added sugar from sugar, honey and brown sugar syrup. That is about 12% of the 50 g daily value for added sugars. Two bars, one pouch, is about 12 g.
What are the ingredients in Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey bars?
Whole grain oats, sugar, canola and/or sunflower oil, rice flour, honey, salt, brown sugar syrup, baking soda, soy lecithin and natural flavor.
Are Nature Valley bars healthy for breakfast?
As a breakfast on their own they are light on what keeps you full: one pouch of two bars gives about 4 g of protein and 2 g of fiber, with about 12 g of added sugar. The Over Easy Banana Nut bar has 8 g protein and 7 g fiber in one bar.
Sources
- Monteiro CA et al. Ultra-processed foods: what they are and how to identify them. Public Health Nutrition, 2019.
- Fazzino TL et al. Hyper-palatable foods: development of a quantitative definition and application to the US food system database. Obesity, 2019.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, branded foods: Nature Valley Oats and Honey Crunchy Granola Bars.
Label data: USDA FoodData Central, branded foods (manufacturer label data), barcode 0016000264601. Score: Truvi score (truviScore v10), balanced setting.
Automated estimate from the product label, an opinion, not a statement of fact about the manufacturer. Ingredient and nutrition data from Open Food Facts (ODbL) may be incomplete or inaccurate. Based on published food-science systems (NOVA · Fazzino · Nutri-Score). Not medical advice.
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