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Will I give up protein bars after watching Wicks' UPF biopic?
Gulf Today
|October 12, 2025
I tend to eat a few protein bars each week - usually on busy days when I don't have access to a kitchen. As a fitness journalist and coach, I do a bit of everything, but strength training is my primary form of exercise. Given protein's established role in muscle growth and maintenance, the idea that I can take a 20g stride towards my daily target with a prep-free bar is undeniably attractive. However, protein bars are also the subject of new Channel 4 documentary Joe Wicks: Licensed to Kill, and the show presents a far less favourable outlook. On the programme, Joe Wicks and Professor Chris van Tulleken create a protein bar packed with "harmful" ingredients to highlight the perceived hazards of ultra-processed foods (UPFs).
"People eat this food (UPF) because it's the only food they can afford-it's sold to them as healthy, and that's a really crucial part of this programme I'm doing with Joe," van Tulleken, a professor of global health and infection at University College London, and author of Ultra-Processed People, tells me. "We've picked these bars because they are all sold as being not just healthy, but super healthy, like almost a replacement for real food." This stunt has drawn both strong support and opposition. Those in support say it highlights a key issue in our food system; those in opposition have accused Wicks of "scaremongering". But where do I fall in this debate, as someone immersed in the fitness industry?
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