Dentists reinvent the energy bar

As a health-conscious vegan, Stephen Costello rarely gets snacks from supermarket shelves. But the long-time Hong Kong resident was shocked when he dropped into a shop a few years ago to buy some energy bars for his young son Sam to nibble on during a flight. He found that the selection was mostly junk.

"I couldn't find any bars that I would give to my son after I read the packaging labels," Costello says. Most of the energy bars he found were essentially candy, packed with sugar and cheap filler so that they could be sold in bulk for bigger profits, Costello says.

That was when he thought about creating his own bars for Sam. Together with his younger brother James, Stephen Costello started trying out different recipes at home. Their kitchen experiments have turned into a much larger project: in 2008, they set up a company, Stephen James Organics, to supply healthy, energy-filled foods in convenient packages.

Both dentists, the Costellos came to Asia in the 1980s. They say they have seen the health of many children deteriorating in Hong Kong, Macau and Thailand, where they also spent a considerable time.

"We found a lot of reasons for kids' health becoming poorer. But of course, everybody knows that kids are eating more junk food. When we started looking at various foods, we realised that some items people think of as healthy are not. People are guided by the information that they get in advertising, which isn't a very good source."

The brothers began researching which foods were really healthy for people. They tapped into Chinese medicinal concepts, in which they have long held an interest, including the theory of five elements or phases as a guide to maintaining balance.