Glycerine is a natural substance that is used in snack bars to keep them soft and chewy. Every low carb bar label we've seen, does not list glycerine content as carbohydrate, fat or protein! In fact, they don't list glycerine anywhere on their labels!
So what's the real "skinny" on glycerine? What is glycerine and why is it contained in all the low carb snack bars?
Is glycerine a Fat? While glycerine forms the chemical "backbone" for fat, it isn't considered a fat because it does not contain fatty acids.
Is glycerine a Protein? Glycerine is not a protein, since it has no amino group.
Is glycerine a Carbohydrate? Not so simple! Recent research has shown that glycerine does not significantly elevate blood insulin levels and only minimally elevates blood sugar levels. So glycerine's official status as a "carbohydrate" is questionable at best!
It is particularly interesting to note that some of these glycerine research studies were done after a 36 hour fast - a condition that lowers the body's glycogen stores and primes the body to elevate blood sugar and insulin. The results appear to reinforce the widespread practice of not counting glycerine as a carbohydrate.
So, even though the FDA requires glycerine grams to be listed, to avoid confusion, other low carb bar brands have simply omitted the amount of glycerine from their label nutrition facts and ingredient listings altogether!
The moral of the story? All KETO'S (lifeservices.com) snack bar labels accurately list the Effective Carb Count on the front of the labels. All KETO snack bar labels fully account for total carbs and calories! Right now, unlike all other low carb bars, the few KETO Bar wrappers that don't list the total grams of glycerine soon will!
Listing glycerine grams will allow anyone who wishes to easily and independently verify calories and true Effective Carb Count.
