More bar options without artificial sweetener

Hi! I can see that the only bar flavour without artificial sweeteners (sucralose) is the Almond & Figs one. I find its mildly sweet flavour more pleasant than the very sweet flavour of the other bars. And we can never be certain that artificial sweeteners are safe. See the recent findings about erythritol being tied to higher risk of stroke and heart attack.
So what about creating more options like the Almond & Figs bar? Thinking about something with dates and another type of nut, for instance. And also savoury bars, as others have mentioned.

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“And we can never be certain that artificial sweeteners are safe.”
Personally, I doubt this statement.

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Hi @Alessandra_64!

First of all, we are very glad you enjoy the Plenny Bar Almond&Fig! We’re constantly working to come up with new flavors and improve our formulas without messing with the texture, taste, or nutritional content. Thanks for your suggestion, dates are super tasty! but also full of sugar. Please know that we are already checking out the possibilities with dates and apples! :hugs:

Did you get to know our pizza bar? We needed to say goodbye to it because it was not the most popular kid on the block :broken_heart: Savoury bars are challenging to create but we are on that!

We know that not everyone is a fan of artificial sweeteners, but we wanna reassure you that we follow the guidelines set out by the European Food Safety Authority. We keep the sucralose levels way below the safe dose suggested by the EFSA. When it comes to determining if an ingredient is safe, there’s a ton of research that goes into it :nerd_face: and scientific panels from all over the world look at a bunch of different studies before giving it the green light, whether it is an artificial or natural new ingredient. With new research coming out all the time, we keep an eye on discoveries regarding any of our ingredients as well as any other alternatives that can make our meals even healthier!

And thanks for bringing up the erythritol topic! We were unaware of the news regarding this sweetener and the higher risk for CVD, so we now checked the publication. As far as this review states, studies have shown a relation (not causation) between higher levels of erythritol in the bloodstream and issues like being overweight and having heart and metabolic problems. But it seems like this connection probably isn’t caused by eating foods with erythritol in them - instead, it might be due to some trouble with how the body is processing glucose or because of a diet high in sugars (those who tend to use artificial sweeteners are often people who are already overweight, at a higher risk for heart problems in the first place). The body naturally creates small amounts of erythritol as part of a process that breaks down carbs.

There ain’t much in the way of long-term controlled clinical trials that show the benefits of erythritol as a sweetener that can bring down glucose levels, body weight, and risk factors in people with type II diabetes, obesity, or metabolic syndrome. There are just two studies that seem to provide some evidence - they found that switching to erythritol (as the main sweetener) could lower the average glucose in the blood (HbA1c) and improve blood vessels function in people with type II diabetes. But the safety of erythritol (or any other approved sweetener) is supported by a lot of evidence from both animal and human studies.

These studies look at how the sweetener is absorbed, distributed, metabolized, and excreted in the body. Also, there are short and long-term toxicological studies that examine things like whether the sweetener can affect reproduction or development, cause genetic damage, and increase the risk of cancer. All this research is reviewed in great detail to make sure that sweeteners are safe to consume.

We understand that the sweet flavour of our other bars might not be ideal for you, but for now, we want to reassure you that the sucralose dose we use is completely safe. We’ve tried out a bunch of different sweeteners, and we’ve found that sucralose gives our bars the best taste. We’re always looking for ways to improve, though, so keep an eye out for any changes we might make in the future :sparkles: :green_heart:

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Hi Laura, thanks for your exhaustive and thoughtful reply.
Yes, dates are sugary, but naturally so, and just a little amount will suffice to make a bar pleasantly sweet, still staying below the recommended limit of 10% sugar. I do use low-calorie/no-calorie sweeteners (mainly stevia), but I would like to reduce their consumption, because research is not conclusive. Basically, these sweeteners “trick” our brains by making us believe we have ingested calorie-dense food, while in reality we have not. This is not how humans have evolved, and we can expect that tricking our brains like this will not be good in the long term. We should instead try to wean ourselves off our craving for sweet food.
The newest study on erythritol is not the one you have linked. It is this instead:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02223-9.epdf
You can find a summary here:

I have not had a chance to try your pizza bar. I will certainly try any new savoury bar you come up with :blush:
I appreciate that it is not easy to balance health concerns and the need to please consumers. I have the same issue with some of my friends/relatives :wink:

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Alright! thanks for sharing it with us! will definitely have a look at it. We found the complete article here in case you feel like reading it completely. It will require a biiiiig mug of tea to go through those graphs :sweat_smile:

Good that you understand the struggle to make everyone happy :laughing: at least there is one bar you like! Have you tried the Plenny Pots? Those are the savoury option we have at the moment.

Yes, I have tried the noodles, they are good, but bars are more convenient when you are on the go :slightly_smiling_face:

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I’d love to have some salty ones too.

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