The Snickers bar was created by the Mars family corporation in 1930 with the name itself coming from one of their favorite horses. The Snickers candy bar is comprised of peanuts, nougat, caramel, and milk chocolate. The original 2.07 oz (58.7 g) Snickers bar has 280 calories and 130 calories from fat. The twin pack, king size version has 220 calories per bar (47 g) with 100 calories from fat per serving.

Mars Inc. is the largest confectionery company in the world and was started in the early 1900's by Frank C. Mars and his wife Ethyl Mars. They originally sold the Snickers bar in England and Ireland but named it the "Marathon" bar. In 1990, Mars changed its name to Snickers and this name change moved the candy bar from ninth to third place in popularity.

The family also invented the Mars bar in 1936 with a European version that was slightly sweeter and missing the almonds. Until recently, the Mars bar was the most popular candy bar of the 20th century. In 2000, the Mars bar was renamed Snickers Almond and within 2 years, sales had plummeted, and Snickers took over as the most popular bar in the world, and the best selling candy bar in history.

In 2004, the king size version of the Snickers bar started to be phased out in England and was replaced by a twin bar pack. This twin pack was designed to comply with the Food and Drink Federation and its 2004 manifesto urging the food industry to reduce sugar, salt, and fat, provide clear food labels, and become more health conscious. The twin pack is the same weight as the king size version but is designed to be shared or saved.

This is a stark contrast to the deep fried chocolate bars that became popular in the early 2000's. These fried Snickers and Mars bars generally weighed in at over 850 calories per bar!

Mars Inc. products: Milky Way, Dove Chocolates, Twix, M&M's, 3 Musketeers, Skittles, Bounty, Kudos, Starburst, Marathon/Snickers, Mars Bar, Fling, Mars Delight, M-Azing, Minstrels, Combos, Revels, Spillers, Lockets, Galaxy, Flyte, Promite, Maltesers, Schmackos, Snickers Marathon Energy Bar, Pill Pockets, Seeds of Change, Winergy, Mars Planets, Tracker, Techni-Cal, Whiskas, Pedigree, Nutro, Cesar, Royal Canin, Sheba, Medi-Cal, Topic, Bounty Buckey Nutrition Celebrations, Greenies, Wisdom Panel MX Mixed Breed DNA Test, and Mars Fish Care.

Venus Kelly is a sales and marketing professional with ten years experience and a degree in business marketing. She writes and maintains Who Invented.info a website dedicated to Who Invented What http://whoinvented.info/.