Pure Protein Bars is one of the most popular protein bar brands in the US. They come in a wide variety of flavors, and the company describes the product line as "a delicious dose of high protein."

But do Pure Protein Bars contain a high enough protein dose to support muscle growth? Are they healthy? What was our Product Tester's experience trying them? And are Pure Protein bars better or worse than popular protein bars like RXBar?

In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Pure Protein Bars to give our take on whether or not they're healthy, and whether or not they contain enough protein to support muscle-building.

We'll also share our Product Tester's honest experience trying a box of these bars, and compare Pure Protein Bars to other popular protein bars to pick our winners (and losers).

Key takeaways:

• Protein dose per serving is sub-optimal for muscle building
• Contains added ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy
• We do not currently recommend Pure Protein Bars

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in the Chocolate Mint Cookie flavor of Pure Protein Bars are shown below:

The protein dose is 19 grams (g) per serving.

This is under the 25 g effective protein dose for maximizing muscle synthesis post-workout according to a 2013 medical review.

Most of the protein is derived from milk, but Pure Protein Bars fails to clearly publish whether or not the milk is sourced from grass-fed cows.

As we documented in our Fairlife Protein Shake review article, dairy from grass-fed animals is clinically shown to be nutritionally richer than from conventionally-raised animals.

There are three ingredients in this formulation we consider to be questionable from a health perspective.

Sucralose is an artificial sweetener that was shown in a clinical trial published in the Nutrition Journal to have negative effects on blood sugar levels.

Sugar may be harmful when consumed in excess, but there's only 1 g of sugar in this formulation.

Regardless, we prefer whole food sources of sugar like honey to refined, added sugar like that in Pure Protein Bars.

Natural flavor may include preservatives, according to a medical review published in the Food and Chemical Toxicology journal.

Overall, we do not consider Pure Protein Bars to be optimal for muscle-building due to the relatively low protein dose, and we do not consider the brand to be healthy, mostly due to the inclusion of an artificial sweetener.

We Tested Pure Protein Bars

One of our product testers named Matt Donnelly tried Pure Protein Bars for a month. Here's his experience:

The box was easy to open, as were the individual wrappers. I had no issues with the packaging.

Protein bars can be hit or miss for me. I actually really enjoyed the taste of the Pure Protein Chocolate Peanut Caramel bars. There was a nice peanut butter caramel flavor and chewiness, but also a satisfying crunch.

I didn't notice any workout-enhancing effects or increased muscle mass, but as a relatively healthy quick meal substitute or snack, these bars did their job.

This is a product I would purchase again.

Overall, I'd rate Pure Protein Bars 9/10.

Pure Protein Bars vs. Popular Protein Bars

Here's how Pure Protein Bars stacks up against some other popular protein bars in terms of healthiness and protein dose, in our opinion:

Quest

Similar protein dose and ingredient list, but some Quest bars contain erythritol which is clinically shown to be associated with increased risk of stroke

Winner: Pure Protein Bars

Clif Bar

Contains significantly more added sugar, but no artificial sweeteners. Significantly lower protein dose (11 g vs. 19 g), as we documented in our are Clif Bars healthy article.

Winner: Clif Bars for healthiness, Pure Protein Bars for muscle-building

RXBAR

Much cleaner formulation. All whole food ingredients except for natural flavors. Only provides around 12 g of protein per serving.

Winner: RXBAR for healthiness, Pure Protein Bars for muscle-building

Pure Protein Bars Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Contains complete protein source
• Higher protein dose than some popular protein bar brands
• Mostly positive Amazon reviews
• Affordable

Cons:

• Contains sucralose
• Contains natural flavor
• Contains refined, added sugar
• May not be optimal for muscle-building
• Brand website charges for shipping on orders under $58

Conclusion

Pure Protein Bars outperforms on price, but underperforms on protein dose and healthiness.

The flavor we analyzed provides 19 g of protein per serving, which is decent, but appears to be suboptimal for muscle-building.

The Chocolate Mint Chip flavor also contained three ingredients we consider to be unhealthy: sucralose, sugar and natural flavor.

We consider Pure Protein Bars to be healthier than Quest bars, but less healthy than RXBAR and Clif Bars.

Most of the online customer reviews of this brand that we came across while researching this article were positive.