Transcription
Have you heard about this, this new ingredient that's in some of these protein bars? EPG, asterified propoxillated glycerol. It's this, it's interesting. Do you remember Ostra?
Of course. Yeah. Okay. You remember anal leakage?
Yeah. One of the side effects.
Yes. So Ostro was sort of version 1.0 of this indigestible form of fat. And there's a company called Epig or EPA that in 2019 applied for and got granted this generally recognized as safe designation from the FDI for FDA for EPG, asterified propoxillated glycerol.
Basically, they take canola oil and they separate the fatty acid tails from the glycerol head with a propoxal molecule, and it makes something that's been described by this company as the texture of warm candle wax. Gives you the mouth feel of fat, but you can't digest it. That's the same thing that happened with Ostra.
So when they've done studies with EPG, it causes all sorts of GI side effects like they, in the papers, it'll say anal spotting, gas with discharge, like akin to the Alstra stuff. And over an 8-week study, it did appreciably decrease absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like beta-carotene and vitamin K1. They didn't test for vitamin K2, but surely it decreased vitamin K2 also.
So, what's scary here is that I think this is the next incarnation of these processed foods. And again, it's all based on this calorie model, right? Calories in, calories out. They're saying EPG has .7 calories per gram. It's an indigestible fat that is causing all sorts of GI side effects, stripping you of fat-soluble vitamins, but it only has 7g, 7 calories per gram. So, and it's, it's crazy. It's going to show up in more and more foods. It's in this bar, this David bar. Have you heard about this David bar?
They have this, they're touting this bar as the highest calories per gram. They're saying it has 28 grams of protein and 150 calories because they put this EPG in there, this fake fat that you can't digest. And so it just bothers me because I think that they're, we're going in the wrong direction with these high-protein processed foods that are packaged like a wolf in sheep's clothing to be like, "Hey, that, that the marketing on the David Bar literally says this is protein perfected." It says, you know, it says like, you know, you're not perfect, but the David Bar, I forget what the exactual, the actual line is, but it's like, David Bar is protein perfected. Like something isn't perfect, but the David Bar is. Like it's perfect protein.
And again, they're appealing to this perspective, which is get more protein. Okay, we can talk about that, but at the lowest amount of calories possible. And of course, it's ultra-processed. So, there's essentially no micronutrients. It's full of artificial flavors. It has sucralose, which I want to talk about also.
So, it just worries me because this is the direction that convenience foods are going in. And I think we're going to see this EPG in a ton of different foods really soon. The makers of EPG are actually being sued now because of like a monopoly thing. They're saying that they're monopolizing. I think actually the David Bar people are being sued because they bought Epogee, the people that make this asterified propoxillated glycerol, and they're trying to monopolize the supply, but previously chocolate bars, peanut butter spreads. I think we're going to see in the future, once this lawsuit gets settled, a bunch of foods have this EPG in it.
I want people to be aware of like how sinister this is because it's basically, like I said, it's depleting you of micronutrients and it's completely the wrong, the wrong, the wrong way to go with your, your food. I mean, if you want high protein, low calories, eat a chicken breast, eat a piece of sirloin steak, right? Like that's so much better. But I get it. People want convenience. And so it just, I think that there will always be this, this niche for convenience foods and I think that people will always be reaching for and grabbing those convenience foods.
I was on a plane today. I was in the airport. Every time I'm in the airport, I'm looking at like what's sold. It's all these convenience foods and I'm thinking like, what is, what, what are even the good options here? What is the best option in an airport? It's pretty tough. So it's just interesting to me to think like, okay, humans want convenience. We're never going to get around that. But I think that it bothers me when these companies are making this consumer demand met. They're meeting the consumer demand with lower quality foods packaged as good foods. That's, that's not good to me.
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