Since the foundation of Innerme in 2012, our Innerme energy bars have also been on the market. What makes the bar so special? And what benefits does the bar provide for your health? We took a closer look at the bar for you.
A balanced meal as the starting point
A balanced meal consists out of a whole grains (such as rice, millet, spelt, oats, buckwheat, etc.), a legume (such as chickpeas, red beans, white beans, lentils, etc.), vegetables, nuts and/or seeds, salt + possibly herbs. The idea of a balanced meal was the starting point for creating our energy bar. How can we turn these ingredients into a bar?
The basis of the energy bar consists out of 5 ingredients:
- rice (from syrup and puffed rice) = whole grain = ENERGY
- protein from sunflower seeds and rice = seed = NUTRIENTS
- seaweed powder = vegetables (from the sea) = VITAMINS & MINERALS
- sesame = seeds = HEALTHY FATS and fiber
- sea salt = salt = MINERALS
- spices
The benefits of rice syrup
To ensure that the bar provides optimal energy during exercise or other activities, it is made with enough rice syrup, because this ingredient is packed with healthy carbohydrates and provides long-lasting energy.
Rice syrup is a mildly sweet syrup that is very easy to digest and dissolves easily. In addition, rice syrup contains many complex sugar structures that ensure that the carbohydrates are slowly released into the bloodstream. The sugars in the syrup are glucose and maltose (2 molecules of glucose). Thanks to the natural production process, the syrup still contains its minerals.
Rice syrup is made by a natural, original and environmentally friendly production process and not by refining. This has the following advantages:
- full traceability from the raw material to the syrup;
- preserving and caring for as many properties of the processed grains as possible: taste, color and minerals;
- a more natural, shorter and more understandable labeling for the consumer => 'rice syrup' instead of 'glucose syrup' or 'sugar'.
- no chemical additives as used by the major sugar industries (H2SO4 – sulfuric acid, NaOH sodium hydroxide, Na2CO3 – sodium carbonate)
- no conventional production processes such as the use of ion exchange resins for the demineralization of sweet juices and fruit juices.
Rice syrup has a high glycemic index (GI). This is a measure of how quickly the glucose is digested in the intestine and absorbed into the blood. But thanks to the combination of the other complete ingredients the energy bar contains, the GI drops and the glucose is therefore released more gradually into the blood. No energy crashes as a result!
Why our energy bars do not contain fructose
Scientific research shows that we should be careful with fructose. Your body can only digest a fixed amount per day. Your liver has a limited number of enzymes to process this fructose. It is recommended to eat a maximum of 15g to 25g fructose per day (on average on a daily basis). High amounts of fructose daily overload the liver. The fructose that cannot be converted into glucose is stored as fat and can even cause fatty liver disease (when constantly overloaded). Fructose can become toxic, so to speak. Another disadvantage of fructose is that it does not give a feeling of satiety and that it is much more likely to cause the formation of bonds between sugars and proteins (AGEs) that form free radicals and can therefore cause damage.
At Innerme we therefore opt to use fructose only to a limited extent in, for example, the Isotonic Drink, the Energy Gel 'Fast', the Protein bar as well as oat and superfood bars. It is therefore best to use these products in moderation. This is because it is better to consume a limited amount of fructose per day. That is certainly not interesting if you need a lot of sports nutrition in one day. For a 5-hour bike ride, for example, you easily need 5 energy bars. Because our energy bars do not contain fructose, they are ideal to consume regularly and in big quantities without health risks, such as during a multi-day event.
Innerme Sports Nutrition advice
| Energy bar (4 different flavors) | can be used indefinitely |
| Energy gel 'endurance' | can be used up to 8 items per day |
| Energy gel 'fast' (4 flavors) | max 3 daily |
| Oat and Superfood bar | max 3 daily |
| Protein bar | max 2 daily |
| Iso energy drink | max 3x 40g daily |
On competition days you can safely take more Energy gel 'fast' and Iso energy drink to get 50 to 70g carbohydrates/hour.
