Ensure Review

What You Should Know

Ensure is a meal replacement drink designed to provide nutrition and prevent hunger by offering a nutrient-fortified shake, now available in various flavors and five different shakes for a dieter’s individual needs. Each type of drink claims to contain enough nutrients equal to one missed meal, and will also fight off hunger pangs while providing nutritional support, ranging from fiber to protein. Flavors range from strawberry to creamy milk chocolate, and can be purchased online or through major retailers such as Wal-Mart or Target. Ensure tends to be a bit expensive, but claims to be a worthy choice for consumers seeking a nutritional supplement. It does not claim to be a weight loss supplement, however, but it is sometimes used for that purpose.

Supplementing a diet with meal replacement shakes is often debated for its safety, and some say that replacing a nutritious meal with a replacement shake is not always the safest route. Additionally, meal replacement shakes often contain chemicals and too little nutritional and naturally-derived ingredients. Let’s evaluate how nutritious Ensure is, and if it will provide any dietary benefits.

Ingredients

Ensure’s original drink contains U-D Water, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Corn Maltodextrin, Milk Protein Concentrate, Soy Oil, Cocoa Powder, Soy Protein Concentrate, Canola Oil, Corn Oil, Soy Lecithin, Carrageenan, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Potassium Citrate, Magnesium Phosphate, Magnesium Chloride, Calcium Phosphate, Sodium Citrate, Salt, Choline Chloride, Ascorbic Acid, Potassium Chloride, dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate, Ferric Phosphate, Zinc Sulfate, Niacinamide, Magenesium Sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Cupric Sulfate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Thiamine Chloride Hydrochloride, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Chromium Chloride, Biotin, Sodium Molbdate, Sodium Selenate, Potassium Iodide, Cyanocobalamin, Phylloquinone, and Vitamin D3.

Product Features

Ensure claims to contain nutritional ingredients which aid a person’s normal diet, but the ingredients contained are mostly synthetic or chemical substances with little proven benefits for dieters. The actual nutrients — namely, Vitamin A and Vitamin D3 — are also listed in the lower half on the ingredient list, indicating it is used in smaller doses in comparison to the rest of the ingredients. These ingredients, if used in larger doses, may have provided nutritional benefits to dieters who are not able to eat a sensible plan, but the lower dosage may lessen these benefits. Furthermore, any diet-related benefits could not be located. It appears Ensure may match the caloric content of an average meal (say, 300 calories or so) but as a nutritional supplement, may not contain the amount dieters may desire for optimum nutrition.

Advantages

• Is widely available in retail stores and on the internet.
• Comes in a variety of flavors and fortified types for individual needs.

Disadvantages

• Contains a lot of chemically-derived and synthetic ingredients.
• Does not appear to contain a sufficient amount of nutritional ingredients.
• Can be expensive if used daily.

Conclusion

Ensure is a popular nutritional supplement that is used to replace a normal meal, but as a dietary supplement may not provide enough benefits for dieters. Still, it does come in a variety of palatable flavors that may help dieters for short term support.