Review of Cambrooke's Glytactin Complete bars

I am so excited about this product, I’m surprised that I didn’t write about it sooner. It was quite a few months back now when I tried Cambrooke’s snack bars for the first time, but I still feel like I need to share my thoughts with anyone who is yet to try these because honestly I think they’re amazing.

Cambrooke are an American brand, makers of Bettermilk. As those who are regular readers of my blog will know, I currently take Bettermilk and I’m a pretty big fan of Cambrooke so it’s probably no surprise that I absolutely love their snack bars.

Fruit Frenzy and Peanut Butter bars

These bars come in the flavours of ‘Peanut Butter’ and ‘Fruit Frenzy’ (at least these are the flavours I have tried) and they can be taken instead of your supplement. Each pack contains the equivalent of 15 grams of protein. I feel like I’ve been secretly waiting for something like this to come along my entire life. As most PKU patients, I have for a long time only known protein substitute to exist in liquid form. But now as we are learning more about the condition, new formulas are emerging – I recently learnt that protein substitute can be taken in tablet form and now we have Cambrooke’s snack bars. I think it’s amazing that we have all of these options available.

For me, these bars resolve so many of my little worries which usually come with taking a supplement. Firstly I don’t have to worry about mixing up a drink because it’s all ready to have at any point. They are also small to pack, making them ideal for travelling. But most importantly these bars give me a sense of ‘normality’ in a way; if I had to take them in public I know I wouldn’t feel as self- conscious or embarrassed about it. I think it would feel as if I was eating an ordinary snack bar, rather than drinking some strange concoction. 

So what do they taste like? Whilst everyone is not guaranteed to be a fan, for me it tasted better than I expected. I think I expected it to taste powdery or something, but actually it didn’t feel like I was taking my medicine at all but, like the appearance suggests, an ordinary snack bar. The only catch is that I found them to be quite filling. As one pack contains the equivalent of 15 grams of protein, I would have to eat two packs per day to get what I needed. But I suppose you could always spread the amount throughout the day. They are also quite high in calories, so if this is something which concerns you it might not be the best option. I must admit, this is the one thing which puts me off slightly. However, I think I am going to be taking these only on an occasion rather than on a daily basis. I like the idea of continuing with Bettermilk but then storing some bars away to use for daytrips, etc. But I imagine you’ll be able to figure out what works best for you.

New products such as these really make me hopeful for the future, as our understanding of PKU and science improves, our chances of having better medicine increases too. Although there are babies being born with PKU all of the time, it makes me happy to know that they will have access to options such as these snack bars and also tablets too.