Will I give up protein bars after watching Wicks’ UPF biopic?

I tend to eat a few protein bars each week — usually on busy days when I don’t have access to a kitchen. As a fitness journalist and coach, I do a bit of everything, but strength training is my primary form of exercise. Given protein’s established role in muscle growth and maintenance, the idea that I can take a 20g stride towards my daily target with a prep-free bar is undeniably attractive. However, protein bars are also the subject of new Channel 4 documentary Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill, and the show presents a far less favourable outlook. On the programme, Joe Wicks and Professor Chris van Tulleken create a protein bar packed with “harmful” ingredients to highlight the perceived hazards of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).

“People eat this food (UPF) because it’s the only food they can afford - it’s sold to them as healthy, and that’s a really crucial part of this programme I’m doing with Joe,” van Tulleken, a professor of global health and infection at University College London, and author of Ultra-Processed People, tells me. “We’ve picked these bars because they are all sold as being not just healthy, but super healthy, like almost a replacement for real food.” This stunt has drawn both strong support and opposition. Those in support say it highlights a key issue in our food system; those in opposition have accused Wicks of “scaremongering”. But where do I fall in this debate, as someone immersed in the fitness industry?

What is ultra-processed food (UPF)?Ultra-processed food is an interchangeable term with NOVA group 4, van Tulleken says. This is taken from the NOVA food classification system, which is used by the likes of the World Health Organisation to monitor global dietary patterns. For a more accessible definition, he offers the following: “If the packaging you are reading has an ingredient that you don’t typically find in a domestic kitchen, like an emulsifier or a flavouring, then it’s very likely to be an ultra-processed food.”

Products such as crisps, ready meals, sweets, chocolate and fizzy drinks usually fall under this umbrella, as do some less expected items like many kinds of bread. These products make up almost 60 per cent of the average UK diet.

In our discussion, van Tulleken tells me about the ingredients he avoids when buying food for his children. I check the ingredients lists of the protein bars in my kitchen cupboards and several of them — non-nutritive sweeteners, emulsifiers, flavourings and colours. “Those are the things that allow the food company to tell you a lie,” he tells me. They deliver artificial tastes and textures without the usual, natural cause — for example, sweetness without sugar. He also explains the rationale for companies including these ingredients in products marketed as health-promoting.

The first problem when selling food to elite athletes is that there aren’t many elite athletes in the world, he says. The foods they have historically eaten, such as meat, rice and vegetables, are also commodity foods with a low profit margin. “Let’s start by saying: ‘anyone who goes to the gym needs special food’,” van Tulleken continues. “Now we’ve got a big market. And let’s create a bar that has a nearly infinite shelf life and uses very, very, very cheap ingredients (that allow us to) make a lot of health claims. “That’s why the protein bar is the ultimate example of (something with) no real ingredients, a very long shelf life and a very cheap production cost.”

If the packaging you are reading has an ingredient that you don’t typically find in a domestic kitchen, like an emulsifier or a flavouring, then it’s very likely to be an ultra-processed food. Professor Chris van TullekenShould you be concerned about protein bars and ultra-processed food? One of the most common criticisms of the Channel 4 show was that it created unnecessary fear around food. As a health-conscious person, I want the things I eat to fuel and nourish me. As a journalist responsible for sharing health and fitness information, I also don’t want to spread concern unnecessarily.

Alongside a generous hit of protein, van Tulleken argues that many bars - among other high protein products — come with a decent dose of saturated fats, salts and sugars, as well as further ingredients which don’t fit his “found in a domestic kitchen” description. “I think there are very good reasons to say they will be harmful — they’ll be detrimental to your overall health and your athletic performance because they’re full of so many other things, and because they’re expensive,” he explains.