Ensure – the “healthy” drink that contains mostly sugar and refined carbs

Want to ensure that you stay healthy and free of disease? Well this Ensure “healthy drink”, recommended for patients at risk of malnutrition, sounds really promising! Until you take a closer look at the nutrition facts, that is…
if you want to "ensure" that you stay sick, swill a bunch of this corn syrup garbage parading as a health supplement pic.twitter.com/FcoFwKNHnl
— Shawn Baker (@SBakerMD) 8 augusti 2016
Sugar…
Just look at the two main ingredients (after water): corn maltodextrin and sugar. WHO recommends no more than 10% of energy in the diet to come from sugar, ideally below 5%. The sugar in this drink makes up a full 25 % of the energy. Five times more than the maximum recommendation.
…and then more bad carbs
Add the refined starch (corn maltodextrin) that rapidly turns into glucose in the blood, and the truly bad carbs add up to 56 % of the energy in this drink.
This is not that different from eating a bag of candy or drinking soda. Add a vitamin pill and you’ll get something very similar.
If you want to ensure that you become obese and sick, then you should buy this drink.
A better alternative
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However, I struggle to think of anyone for whom relying on mainly added sugar and maltodextrin as food would be a good idea. Perhaps someone who is starving and there is nothing else to eat?
Sure, often it indeed is.
But there's no need to waste nuance on something that contains *five times* more than the WHO recommended maximum amount of sugar. Especially not when it's sold with laughable marketing like "complete balanced nutrition to get strong on the inside".
Sometimes it's best to just speak the simple truth. This is junk food, sold in a clever and utterly misleading way.
I agree with you that I find their marketing abhorrent. But their pushing this product in most any circumstance is a similar logical error as claiming it's always bad.
I'm sure under some circumstances cigarettes are not all that terrible either. But we should still criticize companies trying to profit by promoting cigarettes as a healthy part of a balanced lifestyle. That would be unacceptably misleading marketing. Same thing.
Want to criticize the company? Go ahead. Want to criticize them for how they market this product? Makes sense to me. However, it doesn't logically follow that because Abbott may have done things wrong that this product is always something to be avoided. We could probably all cite numerous things the medical community has gotten wrong, yet we would not advocate that no one ever listen to Dr. Eenfeldt as a result. It's a simple logical mistake you all are making.
The cigarette analogy is a bit tortured as we are no longer talking about nutritional products at that point, which all of us need. However, I take your point. Criticizing the company seems legit.
Or try looking at it from the other perspective. Some people talk about "superfoods" and make miraculous claims about how they've saved their life. I suspect this kind of talk is bogus. However, I'm still correct to enjoy the benefits of a cup of blueberries from time to time. Their overstated claim doesn't change anything.
If there are people who have access to better options, that’s great for them. But if this product works for you, use it. I am not a medical professional, but I have a problem with those who think the world is completely black or white. Perhaps this is not a good product for long term use, but it does help if you are physically unable to eat.
If you can eat those things (and have the energy to prepare them), then good for you!
Gastroparesis left me in almost constant suffering and starving to boot. As if I was going to cook. It's so demoralizing to be that sick. I craved salads, and meat, and broccoli - all things that would (and did, when I'd cave) make me violently ill. Sugar is easy to swallow and easy to keep down. I lived on Boost for a time.
I wish people wouldn't be so judgmental :-(
Criticize Abbott all you want, whatever, they probably deserve it. But lay off the sick people please!
If their credibility in disclose is proven deceitful then it stand to reason. Profits over customer's health?
And if you say coconut milk to me, I'm gonna ask which manufacturer sponsors you. She tried various things with it. It didn't take.
So I agree with who you're responding to here. It IS pretty bad to label foods as inherently good or bad. But you went off on a spiel about corporate economics which...hmm. Isn't *supposed* to be your forte.