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? Do they contain any questionable additives? And how do real users rate and describe the taste and effects of the bars?

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.

We'll also feature real customer reviews, and provide a cost comparison to show which retailer sells this brand for the best price.

Ingredient Analysis

The ingredients in the Chocolate Mint Cookie flavor of Pure Protein Bars are shown above.

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.

Real People Try Pure Protein Bars

A YouTube creator named "Life With Mare" tried a variety of Pure Protein Bars flavors:

A YouTube creator named "CaptainBribo" has a video featuring a bodybuilder ranking Pure Protein Bars flavors:

Pure Protein Bars vs. the Competition

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

Customers Rate Pure Protein Bars

Amazon is a better resource for honest customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.

Pure Protein Bars have been reviewed over 5,900 times on Amazon at the time of publishing this article, with an average review rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

A top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Louis Mattos, Jr." who gave the product a 5/5 rating:

"These Pure Protein bars do not disappoint. Excellent flavor, very filling and the pack a very good protein to calorie ratio. This was the best price per bar I could find anywhere…big box or online. Would buy again."

A top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Gigi" who gave the product a 1/5 rating:

"If you are looking for a protein bar that does not contain sugar alcohol due to it causing you to have diarrhea and gas.this is not the one for you. I ate half of one bar and had severe diarrhea and gas all through the night and next morning."

Where to Get the Best Price

Pure Protein Bars are sold at a variety of online retailers. 

Here's a price breakdown for a one-time purchase of a 12-pack at the time of publishing this article:

Brand website: $19.99 (plus shipping, link)

Target: $16.99 (plus shipping, link)

Amazon: $16.37 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)

Pure Protein Bars are currently around 30% cheaper at Amazon than other online retailers when factoring in shipping fees.

Pure Protein Bars Pros and Cons

Here are the pros and cons of Pure Protein Bars in our opinion:

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.

At the time of publishing this article, Amazon has the best price on Pure Protein Bars by a significant margin when factoring in shipping fees.