Optimum Nutrition have had a few stabs at releasing a protein bar over the years and yet none of them have ever taken off. With Predator Nutrition being a close partner of the globally renowned sports nutrition brand, we got a sneak peek at these bars a couple of months ago and could sense that Optimum Nutrition had finally cracked the secret to making a bar that delivers on both taste and macros, something which previous bars like the Opti-Bar failed to do.

A Carb Killa Killer?

In the UK at least, Grenade's Carb Killa is the dominant protein bar and while there is great competition from domestic brands like Battle Bites, as well as US giants like One Bars, Carb Killa remains the benchmark for any protein bar. Nobody knows this better than Optimum Nutrition themselves and from the first bite we could see that they have modelled the best aspects of the Carb Killa while improving on the macros at the same time.

Employing the same layered texture made famous by Carb Killa, Optimum Nutrition have combined this with a superior texture which is closer to the whipped, airy texture of their Cake Bites/Whipped Bites product. In other words, Optimum Bars taste as good as Carb Killa but a better texture in our view and the opinion of blind taste tasters. In this trial, over 55% of participants prefered the Optimum Bar over Carb Killa.

Macro Breakdown

With 20g of protein per bar, and less than 2g of sugar and approximately 200 calories per bar from a combination of predominantly milk protein isolate and whey isolate, there is little doubt that the Optimum Protein Bar is superior to the average protein bar around and certainly features better ingredients than Carb Killa.

With a choice of three flavours at launch, we expect this is a bar you will be seeing a lot of in the years to come!