Calories in Zone Perfect Nutrition bars dark chocolate caramel pecan

WeightWatchers Points are estimated by carbohydrates, fats, protein and fiber in product. They are not an affirmation of better quality or nutritional value of the product or its manufacturer. Only way to count for dieters. Less points are better.
Read more at Weight watchers diet review

Bad! More 25% of daily saturated fat!

For years Saturated fat was claimed to raise cholesterol levels and give us heart attacks. Today different studies refute this claim. They say, that replacing saturated fat with carbohydrates or refined starch or sugar is not changing the heart disease risk. Not processed carbs nor saturated fats are good for you. Only if you replace it with polyunsaturated fat, you'll get a reduction in heart disease risk. So try to have a balanced diet.

Salt (NaCl) is not excactly sodium (Na).
It is not right to use these terms as synonyms.
The FDA recommended limit of sodium is 2,300 mg per day (or even less - about 1500 mg while one is on low sodium diets).
This is much less than the weight of salt.
(5,750 mg per day or 3,750 mg for low sodium diet) and not so convenient to calculate.
Know how much sodium is in your salt - without a calculator:
1/4 tsp salt = 600 mg sodium
1/2 tsp salt = 1200 mg sodium
3/4 tsp salt = 1800 mg sodium
1 tsp salt = 2300 mg sodium

This volume includes both naturally occurring from ingredients and specially added sugars.
USDA tells us that last years each American consumed an average 130 pounds of caloric sweeteners per year!
That works out to 30 tsp of sugars per day approximately 480 extra calories!
Just to think: Eating just 200 more calories daily than your body requires for body functioning and exercise leads to a 20-pound weight gain in a year.

Protein is important, but some of the protein you find in this product isn't exactly natural.
The protein comes from one of the following sources:

• milk protein concentrate
• whey protein isolate
• soy protein isolate

While it's fine to get some of your protein from supplemented items, keep in mind that they are not "natural" sources
and that it's not ideal to get protein only from processed goods.
If you're looking for more protein, try beans, quinoa, nuts, seeds, peas and spinach & leafy greens.
Not only do they have protein, they're filled with other vitamins and minerals.

Milk Protein Concentrate (MPC) is a white to light-cream-colored dry powder.
It is a very cheap milk byproduct of skim milk through a series of processes that includes ultrafiltration,
evaporation and drying of the milk until it reaches a powder form.
Some more info:

• Most of the MPC's are imported as a dry powder from countries with lax food safety regulations (China for example).
• MPC's are added to processed food products to increase the amount of protein without increasing the carbs.

Some view the increased presence of MPC in food products as a result of the low-carb diet craze, others see it as a way to cheaply increase the nutrition of processed foods.

It is used as a thickener in products such as ice cream, jelly, chocolate milk, infant formula, cottage cheese.
It is a vegetarian and vegan alternative to gelatin.
It has been used for hundreds of years in Ireland and China, but only made headway into modern food processing in the last 50 years.
The processing steps after harvesting the seaweed include drying, grounding, filtration, treatment with potassium hydroxide, removal of cellulose by centrifuge, concentration by evaporation, drying, and grounding.
Interestingly, the Philippines account for the vast majority of the world supply of carrageenan.
In some animal studies, carrageenan was shown to cause intestinal lacerations and tumors.
A 2001 meta-study of 45 peer-reviewed studies concluded that carrageenan consumption may result in gastrointestinal malignancy and inflammatory bowel.
The FDA has approved carrageenan as safe, basing its decision on industry funded studies.
European agencies and the World Health Organization have also deemed carrageenan safe, with the exception of infant formula.
The fear is the a baby's gut may be unable to handle the large carrageenan molecules.
In some individuals carrageenan may cause intestinal discomfort or worse.

People feeling reaction to MSG may also react adversely to MSG-like substances.
Glutamates or chemically similar items are added to improve a product's taste.

Here is a short list of common MSG-like substances:

• Yeast extract
• Autolyzed yeast
• Hydrolyzed proteins
• Textured proteins
• Anything "enzyme modified"