We’ve recently written some posts about energy bars, including Clif, Larabar, and Fiber Plus. As a result, we got emails from additional manufacturers who are working to create the perfect bar.

Social Entrepreneur Corey Rennell contacted us regarding his CORE bars. The bars themselves are currently available in a very limited area around San Francisco, but if you’re interested, there is good info on the website. What caught our attention were 2 things:

1. the fact that all profits go to charities, and
2. an interesting tagline – “200,000 years of human nutrition experience”.

We just had to check this out. So we contacted Corey and held a brief interview. (After the interview you’ll find our nutritional analysis).

[Fooducate] What products are you selling?
[Corey] I make two different lines of bars: Defender is vegan and Warrior is high protein. Defender is nearly all raw. I flash steam the oats to prevent rancidity but I do not cook them. It contains a fruit, a nut, a seed, and a grain to build a complete protein (all 13 amino acids). Larabars are just fruits and nuts so they are more energy focused. Larabars also use oils, concentrates, roasted nuts, and non-raw cacao in their products. Larabars are also dehydrated. My bars are hydrated so the food is live (which is why they mold if left out too long!).

Warrior is the same recipe but I’ve add the first certified organic whey protein to it for a higher protein content. Whey is the highest biological value (BV) protein available, which means it has the closest amino acid profile that we need to built human protein (except eating human flesh of course, not really accepted these days). Unfortunately, it has become such a popular ingredient that it is now heavily cooked and processed, so much so that conventional whey denatures much of the protein so very little of it is actually synthesizeable. We test our organic whey to make sure every gram of protein is fully synthesizeable by the human body. While my personal preference is a vegan lifestyle, I know first hand the unprecedented physical developmental power of whey and want athletes that rely on it to have the best source, without having to consume a lot of sugar or nasty processed ingredients that hamper their fitness and body aesthetic goals.

[Fooducate] how long has the company been around?
[Corey] I launched the company on Earth Day of this year in honor of the company’s commitment to a zero carbon footprint. All of our ingredients are organic and sourced as locally as possible (nearly all from California). Our packaging becomes recycled goods when our customers return it. Our cartons are made of sustainably harvested paperboard. Our product demos include table cloths made of plastic bottles, aprons of hemp, and no paper flyers. Whatever we can’t reduce, we offset through CarbonFund.

[Fooducate] What’s with the “200,000 years of nutrition?”
[Corey] The divergence of modern humans from our common Homo ancestor is estimated at 200,000 years ago, we have fossils dating back within 10,000 years of that time scale. My research sought to elucidate the most enduring trends in the human diet over that period of time.

[Fooducate] Tell us about your personal background living with indigenous tribes around the world.
[Corey] I lived with 12 tribes on every habitable continent. From learning to fish with grenades in Nagaland, hand grinding corn in northern Mexico, eating Cassowary in Papua New Guinea, and beating mangrove roots to intoxicate fish in Brazil it was a pretty diverse experience. In the Amazon I witnessed refined sugar and flour entering a community of people for the first time. Their health deteriorated in one generation. Obesity and suffering emerged. The health epidemic we face now is nothing new. From my research, I learned that sickness is a fairly standard benchmark in the discovery of denser foods. It takes around 15,000 years for our anatomy to respond to new food sources. We know this from the fossil record when our ancestors started eating meat and cooking. In comparing the dental formula and digestive physiology of chimps and bonobos, our stomachs are built for about 2/3 raw unprocessed food, 1/3 cooked denser food. Processed foods are actually incredible innovations in energy storage, but right now they simply fill up our stomachs too slowly for our bodies to know when to stop. In 15,000 years I’m sure we’ll be subsisting on a diet of cookies and vitamins, but we don’t have the anatomy for it just yet.

[Fooducate] What are the charities you donate to?
[Corey] Right now we are just establishing the non-profit run arm of our company. Our expectation is to initially partner with Fitness 4×4 to provide free and subsidized fitness classes and health education to low income communities. We also remain very concerned about the quality of American public school meals.

[Fooducate] What are the long term plans? Not-for-profit forever?
[Corey] I own 100% of the company, have zero investors, and will never be publicly traded. We are modeled after Newman’s Own and are certified as a Golden Rule Company so all after-tax net profits must be given away, forever.

[Fooducate] Thank you!

What you need to know:

Whether you buy into the whole background story or not, you’ll have to admit it is interesting. Now let’s take a look at the nutritional story of a Raw Almond & Raisin Bar by reading the ingredient list and nutrition facts panel:

Ingredients:

Whole oats*,  Almonds*, Raisins*, Whey Protein Concentrate* (Milk), Vanilla beans, Cinnamon*, Water. *Organic

Aside from the whey, the list passes the ingredient vocabulary test.

The bars are 3 ounces big – that’s 40% bigger than Larabar or Clif.  And they are dense too – 360 calories is quite a lot when compared to Clif and Larabar at around 240.

At 14 grams of fat (22% of the daily value) and 18 grams of protein, this is more of a meal than a snack.In fact, that’s how they are positioned – “Meal Replacement Bars”.

The sugar in the raisins here is equivalent to 4 teaspoons. The bar carries a good 5 grams of fiber too (20% of the daily value).

We’re not big fans of whey protein concentrate, despite Corey’s assurances and despite the fact that it’s organic. If you aren’t either, you can opt for the “Defender” bar which doesn’t use any.

Bottom line: Interesting company, great social mission, real food in a bar (mostly), but definitely not a dietetic snack.

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