David is the rebuttal to the oldest complaint about protein bars: that you're paying for a candy bar with a protein number stapled on. It packs 28 grams of mostly-complete protein — a milk protein isolate, whey and egg-white blend — into just 150 calories with 0 grams of sugar, so roughly three-quarters of its calories come from protein, the best protein-to-calorie ratio in this entire lineup. It's built by a brand with a real science team, with Peter Attia listed as Chief Science Officer, and it's engineered single-mindedly for protein density. The honest catches are the price — at about $3.25 a bar it's the most expensive here — and a binder that uses maltitol and glycerin alongside allulose, which can bother sensitive stomachs. For a transparency-and-protein-first ranking, the bar that delivers the most usable protein per calorie is the right number one.
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Read the complete Muscle Growth guide →28 g from a complete milk-isolate/whey/egg-white blend — well above the ~20 g category standard and the ~20 g that maximally stimulates MPS (Moore 2009). Collagen is present only in the binder, not as a primary protein, so the leucine-carrying, muscle-relevant protein is largely real. The highest, most usable protein load in the lineup.
0 g sugar, allulose-sweetened, no dyes, and no collagen padding of the front-of-pack number. The one deduction: the binder uses maltitol and glycerin, and maltitol is the sugar alcohol most associated with GI upset. Otherwise a clean, protein-dense deck.
~$3.25/bar for 28 g works out to about $0.12 per gram — competitive per-gram despite the highest sticker price here, because the protein count is so high. As with every bar, whey powder and whole food still beat it per gram; you pay the premium for calorie efficiency, not cheap protein.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is genuinely good for a 0-sugar, 150-calorie bar — soft, not chalky. It doesn't quite reach ONE or Barebells candy-bar indulgence, but it's impressive given how tight the macros are.
Non-weighted SAC transparency gate. David is upfront that collagen sits in the binder rather than hiding it, and the 0-g-sugar / 150-cal claims check out on the panel. Minor knock: the 'complete protein' framing glosses the collagen presence, which is why we describe it as 'mostly-complete' throughout.
“28 g of protein for just 150 calories.”
The 28 g / 150 cal / 0 g sugar macros are stated on the panel and are the highest protein-to-calorie ratio in this lineup. Independent of marketing, ~20 g maximally stimulates MPS (Moore 2009), so 28 g clears the useful per-serving threshold with room to spare.
“Complete protein.”
The primary blend (milk isolate, whey, egg white) is complete and leucine-rich, but collagen — an incomplete protein — is present in the binder, so 'complete' is true of the main sources but not of literally every gram. We describe it as 'mostly-complete' for that reason.
“0 g sugar.”
Sweetened with allulose (a rare sugar the body largely doesn't metabolize) plus sugar alcohols; the 0 g figure is accurate. Note the maltitol/glycerin binder is a sugar-alcohol load, not sugar — a real GI consideration, but the sugar claim itself holds.
“Backed by a serious science team.”
David publicizes a science-led team including Peter Attia as Chief Science Officer — verifiable as a brand structure and a signal of formulation rigor. But it's a company credential, not peer-reviewed evidence that the bar outperforms rivals for muscle growth; total daily protein still does the work (Morton 2018).
At roughly 75% of calories from protein, David delivers more usable protein per calorie than anything else here — the single reason it takes the top slot. In a cut, where every calorie is contested, a 28 g / 150 cal bar is close to a cheat code.
The 0 g sugar figure is real, but the binder leans on maltitol and glycerin. Maltitol is the sugar alcohol most likely to cause gas and GI distress, so sensitive stomachs should ease in and size portions accordingly rather than eat two back-to-back.
Collagen is present but not the primary protein, so the muscle-relevant, leucine-carrying protein is largely intact — unlike Barebells, where collagen pads the headline number. We still call it 'mostly-complete' because leucine, not total grams, drives MPS (Morton 2018).
At ~$3.25 a bar it's roughly two and a half times Pure Protein's price. Per gram of protein it's actually competitive because the count is so high, but whole food and whey powder still win on cost. You're paying for the macro, not the value.
David is the best vehicle in the category, but it's still a vehicle. Muscle is built by hitting ~1.6-2.2 g/kg/day paired with progressive overload (Morton 2018); the bar just makes one ~28 g feeding easy when real food isn't around.
If your complaint about protein bars is that they're candy with a protein number stapled on, David is the answer: 28 grams of mostly-complete protein for just 150 calories and zero sugar, the best protein-to-calorie ratio of anything here, from a brand built around an actual science team. The catches are honest — it's the priciest bar in the lineup at around $3.25, and the maltitol-and-glycerin binder can bother sensitive stomachs. But it exists to pack maximum usable protein into minimum calories, and it does that better than anyone. Use it to fill the gaps in your day; your total daily protein and your training do the real work.
Check David · 28g complete protein · 0g sugar · 150 cal · 12-count on Amazon21 g of complete whey + milk isolate, 1 g sugar, sold everywhere at ~$2.10 a bar — the easiest all-around recommendation if David's price is too steep.
See it on the list →20 g of complete protein with zero artificial sweeteners or dyes, naturally sweetened and Labdoor-tested — the clean pick if you want no sugar alcohols at all.
See it on the list →17 g of whey isolate at only ~130 calories in real chocolate — the other calorie-efficient option if you want a lighter, dessert-like treat.
See it on the list →~20 g of high-quality protein maximally stimulated muscle protein synthesis after resistance exercise; beyond ~20 g, MPS plateaued and amino acids were increasingly oxidized. The evidence behind the ~20 g per-feeding target this category is built around — which David's 28 g clears comfortably.
Across 49 studies, protein supplementation increased strength and muscle size, but gains in fat-free mass plateaued beyond ~1.62 g/kg/day. It's total daily protein that builds muscle; a bar is one convenient contribution toward that total, not a muscle-builder in itself.
Recommends ~0.4 g/kg protein per meal across at least four meals to reach ≥1.6 g/kg/day. A ~28 g bar is one convenient distributed feeding toward that daily target when whole food isn't available.
