Ensure Nutrition Shake or Ensure Complete Nutrition Shake?

Post Published on October 29, 2013.
Last Updated on April 29, 2016 by davemackey.

I’m eagerly awaiting the release of Soylent…but it seems likely that it will be sometime later in Q1 2014 before I’ll get my hands on it. In the meantime I’ve been drinking a good bit of Ensure. It is a nice, easy way to get some caloric and nutritional content without a lot of work. How good is it for me? Hmmm…I’m not sure.

I recently saw they had a “Complete” product which is supposed to provide support for muscles, heart, immune system, and bones…but it is significantly more expensive. You can buy a six pack of Ensure for around $9-$10, a four pack of Ensure Complete runs around the same. So which should I buy? I decided to do a side-by-side comparison – and since I’m doing it, I might as well share it with you.

 Product:EnsureEnsure Complete
 Calories: 250 350
 Fat Calories: 50 100
 Total Fat: 6 g 11 g
 Cholesterol 5 mg 5 mg
 Sodium 200 mg 240 mg
 Potassium 370 mg 560 mg
 Carbohydrates 40 g 51 g
 Sugars 23 g 20 g
 Protein 9 g 13 g
 Vitamin A 25% 25%
 Iron 25% 25%
 Vitamin K 25% 25%
 Niacin 25% 25%
 Vitamin B12 25% 25%
 Phosphorus 25% 35%
 Zinc 25% 25%
 Manganese 60% 60%
 Chloride 8% 2%
 Vitamin C 50% 60%
 Vitamin D 25% 40%
 Thiamin 25% 25%
 Vitamin B6 25% 25%
 Biotin 25% 25%
 Iodine 25% 25%
 Selenium 25% 30%
 Chromium 25% 25%
 Choline 15% 15%
 Calcium 30% 35%
 Vitamin E 25% 30%
 Riboflavin 25% 25%
 Folate 25% 25%
 Pantothenic Acid 25% 25%
 Magnesium 25% 25%
 Copper 25% 25%
  Molybdenum 50% 60%
 Amino Acid Metabolite HMB No Yes
 Omega 3’s No 650 mg ALA
 Probiotics No Yes

Based on this analysis, I think I’ll stick with the regular nutritional shakes. I wouldn’t mind the Amino Acid Metabolite HMB, Omega 3’s, or Probiotics…but I can get these from other sources. Everything else seems fairly minor or something I don’t necessarily want (e.g. extra calories)…and the lower price of the regular shake makes more financial sense.

Any thoughts? Do you use nutritional drinks? If so, what kind and how frequently? I’d say I use them on average once a day – though sometimes twice…and of course, there are the odd days where I don’t use them at all.

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