Organic Fruit Bar Ready to Out-Pace 'Dietetic' Snacks

at America's Walk for Diabetes PR Newswire, September 27, 2005 ALAMEDA, Calif., Sept. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Dietary myths are among the hardest to shake. One with a particularly long shelf life is the benefit of "dietetic" and "sugar-free" foods for those with diabetes. Mountain Organic Foods' Bear Fruit Bar, a sponsor of America's Walk for Diabetes this Saturday, is among a new crop of healthier alternatives made from "real food" ingredients. The Bear Fruit Bar contains dried apples -- a good source of soluble fiber, which is shown to delay glucose absorption and lower cholesterol. In addition, the sugar in apples is mostly fructose, which raises blood sugar more slowly than sucrose and most starches. Typical dietetic foods substitute non-nutritive (0 calorie) sugars for nutritive sugars. Unfortunately, these products often contain significant saturated fat and/or trans fat (which raise LDL cholesterol), and/or have little or no fiber or antioxidants. According to Nicole Britvan, RD, clinical nutritionist with Kaiser Permanente's Outpatient Nutrition Clinic in San Francisco, "There's a plethora of sugar-free products marketed to individuals with diabetes, but often they're less healthy and more expensive than products containing sugar. And just because something is sugar-free does not mean large quantities can be eaten without having an effect on blood sugar or the waistline. Eating fresh and dried apples is a good way to help meet the goal of 25-30 grams of fiber per day, while providing other health benefits." Each Bear Fruit Bar contains more than one apple, including the antioxidant-rich peel, is 100% organic and has no added sugar or preservatives. Because of its fiber content and lack of fat, it meets FDA criteria for "heart-healthy" and also meets new school nutrition criteria for snacks in various states, including California. Bear Fruit Bars will be among the post-walk snacks at the October 1 Walk for Diabetes in Alameda. The fund-raiser has 3 and 6-mile options, and one participant will walk off with a box of the bars by raffle. The bars are sold online and at select stores in California, Oregon and Idaho, including Kaiser Medical Center's Food Farm'acy in Oakland, CA (see http://www.morfoods.com). For more about the American Diabetes Association's events, visit http://www.diabetes.org/walk (for the Alameda walk, click on "learn more" then select California).