Torqbar Tasted

Torqbars Tasted...

Price: £1.00 per bar approximately

Weight: 65 grammes per bar

Features: Moist energy bar in Sundried Banana or Tangy Apricot flavours, high in carbohydrate, low in fat, use range of ingredients with wide-ranging glycaemic index for sustained energy release, 2 per-cent fat, 322 calories per bar.

Taste nice and easy to eat. More expensive than fig rolls and quite sweet...

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The Concept The Torqbar is a new energy bar on the market aimed at being the ideal food for endurance athletes both during exercise and for snacking and recovery. Approved by Matt Hart of the Torqfitness consultancy, it's apparently been two years in the making and has lots of cunning little tweaks to give sustained energy release, low fat and - gawd help us - make it taste nice as well... That way you might actually want to eat it.

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Features The Torqubar comes in two flavours - Tangy Apricot and Sundried Banana - and weighs 65 grammes, 70 per-cent of which is carbohydrate and just two per-cent fat. The carbo is made up of various types of ingredients including oats, raisins, slow release maltodextryn sugar, puffed rice and fruit. The idea is that the different forms of carbo are released at different rates giving a sustained energy release instead of an instant sugar blow-out or an all at once delayed effect.

There's also a special ingredient in called ribose which is a sugar used to rebuild damage after exercise on a cellular level. Torqfitness claim that 'supplementation with ribose can boost cellular recovery by a staggering 340-430 per-cent'.

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In Action We chucked the Torqbar in at the deep end during a four-hour training run in the Peak District hills eating half a bar every 30 minutes supplemented by a dilute energy drink. The bars are moist, sticky and sweet, but quite edible, unlike some energy bars we've used that taste like extruded rubber. We were happy to munch them, particularly the banana bar. We found the sweetness good for use while training but a bit OTT for general snacking.

It's hard to gauge energy release, but four hours - we're training for what's effectively an off-road marathon - is longer than we'd normally run for and despite endless painful hills, our energy levels seemed to stay constant until the final 20 minutes when we got a tad dessicated after running out of fluids...

We were also surprised at how fresh we felt next day. It's hard to know whether that was down to general fitness or if the ribose had an effect, but it was certainly unexpected.

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Verdict

We liked the sweet, fruity Torqbar taste and soft, sticky consistency that made them easy to get down and the steady energy release claims seemed to be justified in use. We combined them with a dilute energy drink to stay hydrated and the strategy seemed to work well.

Combine a Torqbar with maybe a gel sachet and you should have around the right level of carbohydrate for an hour's sustained exercise. Any more and your body simply won't be able to absorb it.

Prices are reasonable for energy bars, which can cost up to £1.50 or so, though the approximate price of £1.00 per bar is excessive for a snack food and we'd save them for special events unless you're really loaded...

You can buy Torqbars online at the Torqfitness web site, where there's also a load more scientific stuff about them. We'd still eat Clif Bars by choice, but as they're no longer imported to the UK, we don't have that option. Our advice would be to try a variety of bars and go for the one that you like eating most, some will find the Torqbar a tad sweet. All will be far better than snacking on junk foods though.

Performance
Value

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Torqfitness web site

Pushed for time: Moist, sweet, easy to gobble sports bar that claims to give sustained energy release for endurance events. High carb, low fat and tasty, we found that it worked well and is definitely an option, though at around a quid a bar, perhaps a bit pricey for an everyday snack. Also claimed to help post-exercise recovery due to an ingredient called ribose.

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