Fiber One Oats and Chocolate Bar Review

I started buying Fiber One Bars for my 13 year daughter in Jan 08. She started having HORRIBLE abdominal pain within days of eating them. She continued on and off for 3 months. The pain got so bad that she ended up having a CT scan of her lower abdomen. To our shock, they could not find anything wrong. Blood test came back negative. Finally she was hospitalized because the pain was unbearable. She had a lower and upper GI done. Results: Negative. Out of desperation for this child, we started a food log. After one week of documenting her food, everything pointed back to the Fiber One Bars. She stopped eating them and within two days, her pain was gone and she no longer needed medicine.
I get really angry that my daughter had to go through this much pain for a product that General Mills knows is causing this many problems. I hope that this doesn't happen to anyone else's daughter. Like someone else said, "General Mills should be ashamed of themselves."

ahhhhh.
i highly DO NOT recommend this deceitful snack to EVERYONE. i ate ONE, only ONE bar.. and my stomach has been freaking out for the last 2 days! i haven't been able to eat because I am so cramped and bloated! I have never been this gassy before in my entire life either! It's so bad to the point where I can't even control it sometimes: I farted in class today without warning!
And now i've been downing mugs of hot organic green tea to flush out my system because it feels like miniature explosions in my abdominal area from my rib cage to my ovaries!

DO NOT BUY!!!

My husband and I have one bar each day. We try to get our fiber thru fruits, vegs, whole wheat & psyllium but if we don't, these are a big help with fiber and a tasty snack that also satisfies a sweet tooth. If you aren't used to a lot of fiber in your diet, they very well may cause distress since most people only get 14 g and these bars have 9g. So only have one a day or start out w/half and you will be ok. Besides, they are expensive (what food isn't these days).

Nothing frustrates me more than the people who try to explain away the intestinal distress by saying people aren't used to fiber. I eat a lot of fiber in many forms and nothing bothers me, but these bars make me so sick. I wanted it to get better, so I kept eating them for like two months - and it was two months of being a social pariah at work. Now I stay away, except every once in a while when I see them in the vending machine. Anyway - the point is - it's not because people aren't used to fiber. It's because these bars are the devil.

Has anyone noticed the 'insulin' on the ingredients list (on the Canadian product anyway)?

I found that amusing.

Ooops...that was 'inulin'; whatever that is.

Dyslexia strikes again...

The Fiber One bar is overall a solid selection for a compliment to a healthy diet. As for those "gastro pains" nad issues, if your body has not adjusted to a proper amount of fiber in the first place, it may take a week or so to acclimate to the does of fiber. They satisfy me better than any other bar I have eaten, and with the fiber and reasonable calories, I can overlook the HFCS. The fiber seems to counter any issues of cravings the HFCS might pose. BJ's wholesale is the best place for price and qty - about 7-8.00- for 20.

Hi there, everyone with the awful gas, next time you are visiting your doctor please ask him/her to give you the quick, easy blood test to check you for gluten intolerance (celiac disease). It can be done along with a cholesterol screen. I used to have this totally embarrassing gas problem but it turned out my problem was with gluten (which the Fiber One bars have a lot of). Since eliminating it, I am 100% better. Celiac disease affects 1% of the population in the US, but goes undiagnosed in 97% of those people. If this is your issue, you will feel SO much better once you know the cause!!

More info: http://www.celiac.org/cd-symptoms.php

I just farted! I am farting and typing right now because on my way home from work - I eat a Fiber One bar. I love the chocolate and oats. The peanut butter is delish too (as mentioned in an earlier post) I could not believe how good they taste - but i made the mistake of eating one before a four hour class that starts at 6pm!! Now i only eat one a day on days that i dont have class!! The gas - OMG!! Its awful and i found this website out of curiosity because i googled for "fiber one lots of gas" Let's just say that i am NOT surprised at the postings related to the great taste and the awful gas! WOW! I already eat a diet pretty high in fiber already and I excercise 5x a week doing cardio for 30 minutes and alternate upper and lower weights. I eat 6 small meals a day. For breakfast, I start out with a bowl of Quaker oatmeal, i love the Apples and Cinnamon. I get the reduced sugar (50%less). Around 10, i have a low fat yoplait yogurt (love the thick and creamy) and a bananna. Around noon, I have a turkey sandwich on whole wheat with fat free cheese and an orange. Around four, I have 1/2 sandwich (sliced deli chicken breast) on whole wheat bread and 1/2 cup of vegtables (I like the birdseye steamfresh single packs). Lastly - on my drive home from work, i enjoy a fiber one bar and by the time i finish dinner - im gas city!! Each day before work, i pack a bag of healthy food (it is healthy to me) and eat it throughout the day. I feel healthy and my memory is improving as well as my figure!

OMG WTF yesterday and the day before I ate the carmel bar (mmmm)and had a 3 hour gas attack and it was the most awful, horrible my appendix just burst type of pain followed by 469 farts. Good Lord. So frickin' not worth it!

My sister recommended these to me. What a sick joke. They taste great and fill you up but after about a week of eating them you contribute to the hole in the ozone more than cows do. Not a very green product. She said, “The only problem is that my stomach growls a little bit at work”. She omitted the non-stop symphony that your butt makes. CONSTANTLY! It’s not really a little growling either. It’s more like you have the Incredible Hulk in there. I’m sure that they are good for you, and I think that if Dr. what’s his name on Oprah says you need to fart 17 times he needs to try these. Or did he mean 17 times per minute.

Oh my word! I cannot believe the gas these delicious tiny treats have not only given me, but my sister as well! We thought we were the only ones having problems with these bars...and then we googled it...The only thing I can recommend is to NOT eat more than one in a 24 hour period. Any more will cause the room shaking, thunder sounding, startle your poor dog, rotten egg smelling air biscuits that many people are apparently suffering from with these bars! Happy flatulence!

Wow! Talk about GAS! I had to leave my office early one day because I was so uncomfortable..... and we'll, those around me were quite uncomfortable too.

I threw the remaining bars out.

Terrible, terrible product!

The Phantom Farter

I agree with many of you and thanks for the laughs! I even read some of the comments to my kids and they laughed. They love fart jokes. Anyway, these bars are evil. I tried them a year ago and had to throw them out due to gas issues. Today, I saw them and bought them again...not really sure why. Had one about 7 hours ago and my stomach has been in terrible crampy knots and the gas is constant and painful and so GROSS. Thank God my husband is out of town. I am throwing these away again! I surely do not want my husband finding them and eating them once he gets home. Stupid me for wasting my money on these terrible things.

I eat lots of fiber in my diet including bean burritos from Taco Bell no less without ANY gas issues (that I notice anyway). I ate one of these bars and OMG disgusting!!!!
So funny reading these comments and I was thinking I must need a life if I spend my evening googling fiber one bars causing gas but I see I am not alone!!! LOL!
:)

I have never in my life farted over the last two days as much as I have after eating the Fiber One bars. I work from home so it wasn't such a big issue. I feel like I'm actually getting my husband back and doing it in two days. Lets face it, we all like the smell of our own farts. No one wants to admit it but it's true. I actually had fun farting because I don't typically fart this much. However, I am now sick of farting and no longer can take the rotten egg smell. I have laughed more in the last two days then in the last month. I think they are pretty darn good but I couldn't even get through a five minute exchange at the store today. The reason everyone is bloated is because you're holding it in. It's not a discomfort if you let them rip. Does anyone know if the cereal does the same thing? I purchased the cereal, it's great.

My doctor told me to increase my fiber intake, and this is due to medications she put me on. She stated that there are many GOOD fiber choices out there, and gave me a list of a few of them. I tried several, and settled on the Fiber One bars, and this was due to the GREAT taste. Fortunately, I don't have any of the symptoms graphically described on this site! GM has now added a few words to the latest (2008) boxes. It reads, and I quote, "Gradually increase fiber over time to help minimize potential gastrointestinal discomfort." Of course, these words are EXTREMELY SMALL! If I'm correct it's the smallest writing on the entire box, and it's very light, also. No, I don't have the side-effects that many of you have, but I do think GM should increase the font size of this little memo! People NEED to know what they could be in for! Yes, it's written on the box, but it could easily be missed by most people. Oh well, we can only hope they find a formula that meets everyone's high standards. By the way, I DO NOT work for them, or anyone even associated with GM!

I bought one of these bars today from the office cafeteria. I thought it tasted good, a little too sweet perhaps, but nice and chewy. A few hours later the fiber kicked in. Good Lord! I wish I would have known how these would upset my stomach. I work in an office and this is not good! I don't think I'll be eating these again. It was so bad I actually googled 'Fiber One breakfast bars' and discovered this site. It's nice to know a lot of other people had the same reaction. I think these are too strong for the typical digestive system.

I think a certain percentage of the population has intestinal issues with inulin (chicory root fiber) causing severe gas.

I have never tried Fiber One but I have had the exact same thing as people are describing here after starting to use Luna bars, which also contain a lot of inulin.

I don't know if inulin is healthy or not, but it's bad for my weight loss because if I eat it, it prevents me from going to the gym, or just about anywhere else.

Inulin is in a lot of things too, for example I just found it in some bread my husband bought.

For the people who are saying it's just because we are not used to fiber, that is not the issue. I have always had a high fiber diet. It's the inulin. When I eat anything with inulin, I get horrible gas. When I stop eating inulin, the gas stops.

Wow! I knew I wasn't alone. Since i' ve added these bars to my diet I have become more regular as expected BUT it is not the way I expected fiber to work! I've had many nights where I woke up at 3 in the morning with cramps and had to RUN to the bathroom! I wasn't having more than one of these a day and already eat alot of fiber/intestinal products ( oatmeal, lots of vegetables, yogurt everyday, fiber rich wheat bread, etc,). Does increasing your fiber intake a little bit really give people diarrhea! I think maybe the ethanol and shellac might have something to do with the flu like symptoms. Any more thoughts on that?

Wow, I just had a Fiber One day. You know the drill. Blasters of varying magnitude, difficulty discerning between solid and gaseous waste products so that you feel like you are in a state of emergency for hours on end, the disappointment when you realize it IS as bad as you remember... it was great to see this forum and realize, though I may be a freak, I am not alone. And yes, they are delicious - it's a crime!

How about the 8% Saturated fat in it?? How good/bad is that?

Ok, I am laughing so hard I am in tears reading everyone's comments and stories about the fiber one bars. The one about the guy with the "magnificent dutch oven" really sent me over the edge, LOL!! I just wanted to add yet another comment in agreement about the gas. PEE-YOO!!! I had one of these bars at about 10am at work this morning, and I have had THE WORST gas pains and gas I have ever experienced EVER in my life. I am throwing the rest of them out tomorrow. I feel so bad for my poor husband and cats tonight.

The fiber in these bars is primarily Inulin, which comes from the Chickory Root Extract. Inulin is a soluble fiber that passes through the stomach undigested (which is the point of dietary fiber) but is then digested by the flora in your intestine. This is what makes it very healthy for you: The benevolent flora apparently thrive on the stuff, and as a result you have more bulk to your stools (supposedly 60% of the mass of a stool is bacteria). The downside is that the flora produce gas as they digest the inulin. Quite a lot of it, in my experience. I've never felt any discomfort or bloating but I sure made some stinky noise! I am careful never to eat more than one or two of them in a day.

I have experienced the same problems with gas that everyone else has after eating these bars, but I was wondering.... has anyone had any trouble with breastfeeding? My daughter gets fussy and appears to have really bad gas pains, and I think it happens more after I eat one of these bars. Has anyone else experienced this? Could this even be possible?

Products containing inulin from native North American plants (chickory, sunchokes (aka. Jerusalem artichokes)should carry a warning label of an exploding zeppelin.
These plants are so probiotic as to make old world probiotic foods such as yogurt, garlic, leeks, and bananas seem amateurbiotic.
My wife, Frau Hindenburg, tried these fiber-one bars and transitioned from the silent but deadly variety of gas passer to the big bang, nuclear wasteland for the next fifty million years variety. On the good side, I think she eliminated our carpenter ant problem.
I had an idea of what she went through because earlier this summer I tried sunchokes and for the next three days I felt like I was trying to pass a giraffe through my colon... a giraffe that had really really gone off during its eighty hour exodus.
If anyone figures out an effective underwear collection system, we have the solution to the energy crisis.

If your going to complain about ingredients in food because the FDA doesn't regulate strictly enough...then just start your own garden and grow your own food so then we won't have to listen to you complain. American mass produced food products have contained ingredients like these for a long time...nothing new people

I personally think the bars taste amazing...especially the two new flavors they have

My daughter got a rash on her arms and legs from eating the fiber one bar. this is a child who regularly eats seafood and nuts. must be the main ingredient chickory root which is so bad for you esp for a child.

Bought the Oats, Strawberries, and Almonds kind thinking they would be like a Kashi bar. Oh, how wrong I was. These are candy bars under the guise of health food. The first thing I noticed was that they are very chewy, held together by a rather thick application of sugary goo. But that doesn’t make it sweet enough, so there is chocolate drizzled over it also. There are hardly any almonds in it at all. Taking a look at the ingredient list, I found that corn syrup was included 3 times (high maltose, and high fructose is listed twice, once by itself and once more as a component of “vegetable oil”). I was also amused to see that there are no strawberries in it, but “natural strawberry flavored fruit,” sugar and cranberries and strawberry flavoring. The bars are very high in fiber at 9g, but there are many other options that are not bathed in sugary stickiness. As a side note, I did not experience any gassiness, as I get a lot of fiber from vegetables and legumes every day, which is better than any snack as a way to get fiber.

Um... I just did the sme thing as you. Namely eating the entire box in one go. That was before I read this. I will never buy these again. They aren't filling at all, and on the box it says "fiber can help satisfy your appetite" not when hfcs is creating food cravings. Ugh... I feel gross now. Yeah, I think I should swear off bars completely, they're never worth it. You could eat such a larger portion of vegetables or something healthy...
blah. No more. Even fiber one cereal hfcs. I think I'll stick with kashi. Yuck.

I got one of these as a sample. I ate it and found it to be delicious and wanted more. Today I bought the box and ended up making a meal out of them because I bought them when I was hungry. About three hours later, I started having major bloating that continued for hours. The gas started about six hours after eating them and hasn't gone away, and it's been nearly 10 hours ago that I ate them. I could live with the gas and the cleaning of my system. However, that bloated feeling caused my stomach to be distended and was PAINFUL.

I'm a person who regularly gets 30-45 grams of fiber a day from oatmeal, produce and a high-fiber bread, so it's more than the fiber in these bars that causes the tummy woes--it's probably all the chemicals in them to make them so sweet and chewy.

If you can eat one a day, it probably won't hurt you. They do taste like candy bars, and they do have fiber. However, all those chemicals are something to be considered if you are trying to eat a healthy diet.

Seriously, . I got the generic Market Pantry version of the Fiber One bars on Saturday for the first time (I've never had the Fiber One branded ones, though I do eat the Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal every morning, mixed half and half with Honey Bunches of Oats). I immediately opened the box and had one of the Peanut Butter & Oats variety. DELICIOUS! It was 40 calories more than my usual granola bar that I eat, and FULL of fiber. Oh, but that ain't all it's full of.

I have been a hot furnace of flatulence since a few hours after the first bar. It's Tuesday now, I've just googled these bars due to the pain and farts, and I am in my office right now hoping, praying that no one will enter. I have had to sit, very tightly I might add, through 2 meetings thus far. Also, this does not seem to have helped with bowel movements at all. Instead, I think one's coming on (when the pains kick in), so I RUN to the men's room, and PRAY no one is in there. Then I proceed to fart so loudly and violently, that it is embarrassing as can be. To make things worse, the men's room is like a concert hall and the grandiose reverb adds a pomp and circumstance to my farts that I just KNOW people in their offices can hear. Certainly the hall-walkers can.

Now I have to go buy some new shoes so no one recognizes me by my footwear in the bathroom stall. No more Fiber One bars!! I smell.

I love these bars, I keep all flavors on hand at all times. I see WalMart and Target also carry their versions, the ingredients are exact. Sure I fart a lot but not as much as I did when I first started eating them. I love the taste of them and I spend much less time on the "throne" straining to deliver the goods. I guess these bars aren't for everyone. The shelves are lined with all kinds of bars anymore, find one you like and quit bad mouthing the others

FAAAAAAAAAARTS!!!
My tummy is rumbling.

I eat 5 of these a day and I have had no gas and I lost 5 pounds in 5 days for eating only 5 of them a day. There is a secret ingredient that I use that causes the weight loss which makes you lose a pound a day. And sorry but I am not giving it out.

i just pooped my pants. Fiber bars are friggin awesome

My doctor informed me I should increase the fiber in my diet so a friend of mine gave me one of these new Fiber One bars and it did taste great but I had MAJOR gas problems the entire evening. Thought it was just a fluke, waited a few weeks, and then tried another one yesterday. Same gastroinstestinal issues again, very bad. So do you think it's the ethanol, shellac or chicory root extract or the fiber itself?

I bought one of these bars two days ago at the local Wawa and had it for lunch. Thankfully it was at the end of the day because when I got home from work I spent most of my night running to the bathroom...it took until about noon yesterday for it to subside. It was the only thing I ate out of the ordinary so I did a quick search and found several sites like this with people having the same sort of reaction...I'm glad it's not just me, but not so glad we all had to go through it.

I am having the same problem with the farting! I randomly googled the problem and to my relief I am not the only one. However, it is very embarassing and very uncomfortable. BUT THE BARS ARE SO DELICIOUS!

I have never seen so many people's egos frightened of gas before. That EMBARRASSING gas you have from eating these bars is your body telling you "Hey, you're actually eating something healthy that cause the good bacteria (whats left of them) to reproduce and feast on this soluble fiber". The people complaining have no idea of what is actually healthy, they only go by today's social taboo environment (No farting at work! How embarrassing! These people are unfamiliar to you! OMG gas coming out of my anus!! That's so weird and unnatural!) If you're farting a lot, stick with this or some other type of soluble fiber and eventually your body will adjust when it has its healthy amount of good bacteria. Unless...you're..too...EMBARRASSED....