So, a few weeks ago, I received my latest shipment of chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Quest Bars. I noticed they had a slightly different taste and texture, but didn't think much of it, because I've noticed some variation in batches of Quest Bars before. But then I started getting really gassy in the past two weeks or so. Like really gross smelling gas and loose stool. After talking to a coworker who also eats Quest Bars, I realized that Quest Nutrition has been phasing out Isomalto-Oligosaccharide in all of their bars and replacing it with Soluble Corn Fiber. Now both of these are "fake" fiber and have their various issues, but at least the former didn't make me horribly gassy. I've now been soluble corn fiber free for a day and a half and the gas has stopped, so I know that was the issue.

I managed to find one more box of the old version of Quest Bars, but I'm very sad to have to be switching away from them. I loved them SO much. Now I'm trying Muscle Pharm's Combat Crunch bars and they are tasty, but very candy bar like, which can be cloyingly sweet. The also have slightly more calories and more net carbs than the Quest Bars. I guess I will have to keep searching for something that tastes good, has plenty of Protein, has few carbs, and doesn't make me sick.

ETA: I just read the part about them already being in the s'mores flavor. I have never had a problem with the s'mores flavor so I think I should be good.

Yep, you should be good then! Lucky!

I only buy 3 or 4 at a time and I only eat 3 or 4 bites at a time but after reading this I checked the bars I just bought and they have the corn Fiber in them and sure enough it affected me after just 3 bites. I cant imagine how bad it would be if I had eaten a half or whole bar!!!

I wish there was someplace we could all complain to AND it would make a difference! HA!

I liked these because there is so much fiber and they were so filling. They didn't cause any cravings either.

I tried the Power Crunch bars and those are too good and not filling at all. I have to stay away from them.

I just ordered a box last week. Bummer.

Hmmm...I guess I have somewhat of a Hobson's choice of eating expired CCCD Quest bars or getting those problematic new ones. I started them while pre-op and bulked up big time, and can just tolerate them again starting now. Say it ain't so, OP. Alas, I pretty much knew nutritious candy was too good to be true.

@ Hopefully the soluble corn fiber won't have a negative effect on you. Some people handle it just fine. I wish I were one of those people! The only bars I've found that use IMO that I like the taste of are Combat Crunch, but they are SOOOOO expensive. I thought Quest Bars were expensive, but these are ridiculous!

The corn fiber is just fine for me. And for my husband it's better! He used to get stomach aches from the old ones and the new ones don't affect him at all. My kids ate the pumpkin pie ones yesterday too and were just fine. So don't assume you will have a reaction to the corn fiber. Try it and see!

I am sorry for those of you who have had issues.

I'm gonna have to try quest bars I have a gnc membership so its cheaper for me to get them

I ate half of a new choc chip cookie dough for breakfast this morning. No stomach issues but it just didn't taste as good.

Maybe if enogh people are unhappy with the change and let them know about it they will change back to the original formula.

Happily, I've never cared much for any Quest bars. They seem dry and chalky to me.

I eat one only when I'm on a very long airplane flight and need an easy Protein source that doesn't have to be refrigerated or cooked.

I received a reply back from Quest's customer service and here was their recommendation on how to approach eating the new bars:

Now because the Fiber is so much stronger in this bar, we are aware of the adjustment period a lot of customers have needed- and this is a the case whenever your body switched to any new fibers. The reason you are experiencing some discomfort is related to certain healthy bacteria in your gut microbiome. Our gut microbiome is incredibly important for so many facets of human health that we are just starting to learn about many of them. It is definitely worth taking the time to build up those healthy bacteria in your GI tract. I'd recommend starting with consuming 1/8 of a Quest Bar for a few days to assess your tolerance. If that causes no discomfort, move up to 1/4 and gradually build up your microbiome until you can eat as many bars as you like. It is the technique many have used to be able to tolerate many foods that contain many different fibers.

I don't know if I want to attempt that, since it would definitely mess up my routine to only eat 1/8 of a bar at a time, but it might be worth the effort if it meant getting to ultimately eat whole Quest Bars again without the gas.

Maybe if enogh people are unhappy with the change and let them know about it they will change back to the original formula.

I contacted them, no they will not change it back.

Ok so it isn't just me! I've been eating Quest bars for the last two years LOVE them, they're my treat and have always been able to curve my sweet tooth craving, however, lately I started noticing some crazy stomach things going on. I also noticed the change in flavor but didn't think a whole lot of it until I ran out and didn't have one for a couple of days and my symptoms were gone. From that point I knew there was something in them that wasn't digesting properly then over the weekend our local news station did a segment on Protein bars and how many of them are filled with such artificial ingredients that are worse for you then the real sugar etc. I'm sad because like I said that was my treat and I didn't feel guilty about it. I have tried the pure Protein Bars and the double chocolate is actually pretty good, not as good as quest but they will work on occasion until I can completely cut them out. It has 180 cal. and 21g of protein, 3g of sugar but they have 11g of net carbs. http://www.pureprotein.com/products/chocolate-deluxe-50-g/#

OMG! You're 100% right about this. We started selling them in our new store and I've been having one per day. I've been on fire the last few days because of them. Not going near another until they change their ingredients. I felt really bad for my co-workers and kids today lol. I'm going to be taking to our Quest rep. This is a serious issue!!!

Seems like Quest got the message. I received the following email from them this morning:

Team Quest,

You may have just received an email offering to receive two free boxes of bars. We accidentally sent it to everyone! It was intended to go only to our select group of Beta Testers. Sorry about that!

The good news is… the secret is out! We’ve worked hard on updates to our soluble corn fiber recipe based on your feedback. We’re sending the new recipe to a small group first for their feedback and will be officially announcing the changes very soon.

Sorry for the confusion. In our excitement to share this, we hit ‘send’ a bit too quickly! We look forward to sharing soon.

Best,

Team Quest

P.S.

If you'd like to learn more about Quest Labs and our Beta Test program email us at QuestLabs@QuestNutrition.com