What’s the deal with David Protein?
A lawsuit filed in January alleges David’s protein bars contain more fat and calories than their label lists—violating FDA standards that say nutrition content can’t exceed advertised values by more than 20%.
What does David say?
CEO Peter Rahal released a statement (read here) on March 12 defending their calorie testing method, saying the FDA approves six different ways to calculate calories.
The plaintiffs used one called bomb calorimetry. David used a different one and got a different number.
Back up, bomb calor-what?
Strap on your science hats.
Bomb calorimetry (cal-uh-RIM-uh-tree) measures calories by burning food. Over-simplified (sorry, chem bros), you lock a sample in a sealed chamber surrounded by water, ignite it, and measure the temperature of the water. More heat = more calories (watch here).
It’s an FDA-approved method that works for most foods.
What’s David do?
David’s bars contain a fat substitute called EPG, which is where things get interesting.
A calorimeter burns everything up completely… but your digestive enzymes can’t fully break down EPG, so it comes out of your body looking (almost) the same as it went in. Pure heat can eat up anything, but your body isn’t that efficient. It’s how fiber acts in our bodies, since we don’t digest it either.
To fix that, the FDA assigned EPG an official value of 0.7 kcal/g—compared to 9.0 kcal/g for regular fat—which reflects what your body actually absorbs. David used that number, not the one a calorimeter would show, to be more accurate for its customers’ needs.
So… who’s right?
The suit hasn’t been settled yet. The question comes down to which method is the best for testing this specific ingredient.
