David Bars Get Tested & HYROX 101

Editors’ Note: Week 5 is here! We received some questions about if the section about The Carry, the weighted vest for women, was sponsored. It was not! We simply like their mission and design. We will make it clear when something is sponsored.

Speaking of, thanks Pique Life for another sponsor! Third time’s the charm!

Words in blue will be defined in Today’s Dictionary below!

Esterified propoxylated glycerol (EPG) is a modified fat created by Epogee that provides the texture and taste of traditional fat with only 0.7 calories per gram instead of the usual 9 calories per gram. It is produced by altering vegetable oils. The result is a fat-like ingredient that mostly passes through the body undigested. You can think of it as probably having close to 9 cal/g but your body only absorbs 0.7 cal/g, so that is what makes it on the nutrition label. EPG has received FDA GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) approval for use in baked goods, frozen desserts, confections, and spreads.

David’s acquisition of Epogee

Catalyst for Drama: In May 2025, David Protein acquired Epogee, the sole producer of EPG.

Allegations: Some brands, such as OWN Your Hunger and Lighten Up Foods, filed an antitrust lawsuit claiming David sought to monopolize the EPG supply and push rivals out of the market.

David’s response: The company denied the allegations, saying Epogee will continue to supply EPG at large quantities to other companies, but it will phase out relationships with companies who place small orders since it was losing the company money. They acquired Epogee to secure their long-term supply of EPG because it is vital to their products.

The labeling debate

A couple weeks ago, ConsumerLab conducted independent testing of David’s protein bars and found key discrepancies between their results and the nutrition label.

Fat discrepancy

David responded with a video, standing their ground for the amount of fat listed, saying that 2g of fat is accurate and that some testing methods don’t measure EPG correctly. David Protein argues that since EPG doesn’t get absorbed at the same ratio as a normal fat, it should not be included in that total value.

ConsumerLab cites the FDA’s definition of fat as the weight of total lipid fatty acids expressed as triglycerides (basically counting all modified-fat molecules as regular fats). They believe by this definition, it doesn’t matter how many calories a modified fat contributes, it should still be listed in total fat per gram.

Protein discrepancy

David conceded that a few of their early batches had “variability” in protein and that they flagged that internally. Since then, they have created strict operating procedures to third party test “every single bar” to ensure a minimum of 28g of protein. It’s not possible to tell if ConsumerLab had one of these early batches or not, but David is transparent about their third party test results.

ConsumerLab did not fail David’s bars due to the protein levels since the FDA allows for 20% of variance from the listed value. David bars could actually have 22.4g of protein and still be technically allowed to be labeled 28g of protein.

Why you should care

David bars are a live case study in how food tech collides with established nutrition label definitions. On paper, the macros look almost too good to be true, and that’s thanks to EPG. The fight over whether EPG should be counted as “real fat” exposes how messy labeling laws get when science outpaces regulation.

The macros you see may not always be the macros you get. Independent testing can reveal gaps between labels and reality. If a product is in your weekly rotation, it’s worth checking for third-party testing or subscribing to trustworthy newsletters so you know what you’re really getting.

Technically, by the FDA’s weight-based definition of fat, David might be bending the rules. But they’re doing it for a reason: the purpose of a nutrition label is to reflect what your body actually absorbs, not just what’s chemically present. If that’s the spirit of the law, then EPG exposes how measuring fat purely by weight may be outdated and why more innovation will keep challenging the system.

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HYROX is an indoor, standardized “fitness race” that strings together eight 1-kilometer runs with eight functional stations (i.e., SkiErg, sled push and pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, farmer’s carry, sandbag lunges, and a wall-ball finale). Same order and same distances everywhere. If solo seems daunting, they also offer races for duos and quads.

Show up, race your own time, and compare it to anyone, anywhere. That standardization is the special sauce. Because it’s held in big expo halls with looping courses, your friends can cheer you on from start to finish.

Where it came from

HYROX was created in Germany in 2017 by endurance-events veteran Christian Toetzke and Olympic hockey legend Moritz Fürste. The first race went off in Hamburg in 2018, and has snowballed across Europe and the U.S. ever since. Today HYROX bills itself as the “World Series of Fitness Racing.” 

What it signifies

HYROX is the mainstreaming of “hybrid” fitness wrapped in a format regular people recognize: a race with a finish time. It’s also a cultural tell. Endurance sports are booming, and HYROX sits right at that intersection of performance, community, and spectacle. Tickets are getting Eras-tour scarce. New copycat formats are popping up and big-name sponsors are piling in. 

Anatomy of the race (the muscles involved)

Each HYROX race follows the same 16-part sequence: run a kilometer, hit a station, and repeat until the wall-ball finish. Here’s what your muscles are doing along the way:

What it means for muscle health

If marathons are about a single gear for a long time, HYROX is about metabolic agility. It’s about how quickly your muscle can toggle between force and flow. 

Why you should care:

HYROX is a practical framework to build and measure muscle health over a season. Because every race is the exact same, you can actually track whether you’re improving.

In January, maybe the sled takes you 5 minutes. By April, you shave it down to 4 minutes. That’s not luck or a “good day,” that’s your legs and lungs getting stronger. Maybe you used to need breaks during the farmer’s carry, and now you walk it unbroken. That’s grip and core strength having adapted. HYROX is a difficult test of muscle health, blending strength with speed in a repeatable format.

Check out our section about how vigorous activity like Hyrox can Extend Your Lifespan!

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