What Happens to Your Blood Sugar When You Eat Granola Bars Regularly

Packing a granola bar in your bag for an on-the-go snack is convenient, but it might not satisfy you. Whether a bar stabilizes your blood sugar or triggers a spike depends on its added sugar, fiber, protein, fat, and whether you eat it alone or with other foods.

When you eat carbohydrates, your body breaks them down into glucose, which enters the bloodstream. If blood sugar rises too high, the pancreas releases insulin to help absorb glucose into cells, where it can be used as an energy source.

How quickly blood sugar rises depends largely on the type of carbohydrate. “Simple carbohydrates are made up of shorter sugar molecules and are digested quickly, which means they release glucose into your blood more quickly, often leading to a sharper rise in blood sugar,” says registered dietitian Sarah Steele, MS, RDN, a metabolism specialist at Signos. Health. “Complex carbohydrates are long chains of sugars linked together with fiber and nutrients, so your body breaks them down more slowly.”

One of the main reasons why some granola bars raise blood sugar more than others is the type of carbohydrates they contain.

• Simple carbohydrates include added sugars and refined flour. As Snider notes, granola bars high in added sugar and low in fiber or protein can affect blood sugar levels much like a candy bar.
• Complex carbohydrates include whole grains, such as oatmeal and buckwheat, as well as nuts and seeds. These ingredients are digested more slowly and generally have a gentler effect on blood sugar than refined or simple carbohydrates.

Other reasons why a granola bar may raise blood sugar include:

• Low fiber content: Fiber slows digestion and helps stabilize blood sugar, which helps stabilize energy and reduce post-snack spikes, according to Steele.
• Fat and protein content: While carbohydrates are the main culprit for blood sugar spikes, fats and proteins also have an impact. Foods high in fat and protein tend to cause lower blood sugar spikes because these nutrients slow digestion, delaying the rate at which glucose enters the bloodstream.
• Serving size and total carbohydrate content: Larger bars or those with a higher total carbohydrate content can raise blood sugar more, even if the overall ingredients appear healthy.

“Frequently eating high-sugar granola bars in isolation can lead to repeated spikes in blood sugar followed by dips, which can contribute to dips in energy, increased hunger, and difficulty staying satisfied,” says Allison Swiggard, MS, RDN, LD. Health. No single food will make or break blood sugar health, but it’s the trends over time that matter most.

Research suggests that continued instability in blood sugar is linked to prediabetes and may increase the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Swiggard said granola bars are more likely to keep blood sugar levels stable when:

• They contain fiber like whole grains, oats or seeds, which slows digestion.
• They include proteins and fats from nut butters, seeds, soy butters, dairy products, or protein blends.
• They are low in added sugar for a more gradual increase in blood sugar.
• They are eaten with other foods containing protein, fiber or fat, such as yogurt, nuts or eggs.

“When reading a label, prioritize bars with at least 4 grams of fiber, at least 10 grams of protein, and no more than 25 grams of total carbohydrates,” Steele said.

Check the ingredient list for other beneficial ingredients, including:

• Whole grains like oatmeal, buckwheat
• Nuts like almonds, peanuts, walnuts and cashews
• Seeds like pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, hemp and flax

Added sugars can hide in plain sight

It is not always easy to spot sugar in the list of ingredients. When choosing a bar, sugar can appear under many different names, including:

• cane sugar
• Corn syrup
• Brown rice syrup
• Dear
• Maple syrup
• Agave

Dates, commonly used to sweeten granola bars, may be less likely to raise blood sugar because they contain fiber and beneficial plant compounds. Research suggests that moderate servings of dates do not cause large spikes in blood sugar and may even promote insulin sensitivity.

Non-nutritive sweeteners such as stevia, monk fruit, and allulose will not increase blood sugar. Sugar alcohols also have a limited impact on blood sugar levels, but they can cause digestive side effects in some people.

Being intentional about snacking benefits everyone, but people with prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes, or PCOS may need to be especially mindful.

Individual responses to these snacks can vary greatly. “Monitoring symptoms and working with a registered dietitian may be more helpful than relying on generalized ‘right or wrong’ eating rules,” Swiggard said.