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Are ensure et al nutritionally complete? As in - you can live off ensure and nothing else? My understanding is that soylent (and clones) are able to be full re

by RickS 11y ago

Are ensure et al nutritionally complete? As in - you can live off ensure and nothing else? My understanding is that soylent (and clones) are able to be full replacements for food in general, whereas ensure, muscle milk, etc, are meant to be purely supplemental

bpodgursky 11y ago
Yes, ensure is designed to be a sole-source nutrition. When someone is in the hospital and can't eat, they are given Ensure as a sole food source.
- omouse 11y ago
  Not from what I saw, it looks like you can easily go over board on some of the vitamins and minerals if you have a few bottles of it.
  - geofft 11y ago
    Which vitamins and minerals? Given the number of people under close medical supervision who are using Ensure for meal replacement, why hasn't vitamin poisoning from Ensure been observed or reported?
Someone1234 11y ago
The others are designed to do that, but the jury is still out on if any specific product and completely replace food with one shake/formula. Be it Ensure, or Soylent.
DanBC 11y ago
When Ensure markets itself to the general public the makers responsibly say it's a supplement. But if you're a medical professional you get the other marketing - which is clear that ensure etc can be used as a sole source of nutrition under medical supervision. They have a variety of products to cover a variet of needs. They have ensure plus which has more calories than ensure; they have products for NG tubes; they have low protien versions; there are version for children; etc. http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/abbott-brands http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/abbott-brands The fact that they limit this marketing to registered healthcare professionals and have a bunch of caveats about "under medical supervision", and Soylent doesn't, is something you can draw your own conclusions about. Some people will see this as disruptive and an example of a small nimble supplier filling a niche; other people will see it as SV pathologically avoiding reasonable regulation.

by RickS 11y ago

bpodgursky 11y ago

Yes, ensure is designed to be a sole-source nutrition. When someone is in the hospital and can't eat, they are given Ensure as a sole food source.

omouse 11y ago
Not from what I saw, it looks like you can easily go over board on some of the vitamins and minerals if you have a few bottles of it.
- geofft 11y ago
  Which vitamins and minerals? Given the number of people under close medical supervision who are using Ensure for meal replacement, why hasn't vitamin poisoning from Ensure been observed or reported?

Someone1234 11y ago

The others are designed to do that, but the jury is still out on if any specific product and completely replace food with one shake/formula. Be it Ensure, or Soylent.

DanBC 11y ago

When Ensure markets itself to the general public the makers responsibly say it's a supplement. But if you're a medical professional you get the other marketing - which is clear that ensure etc can be used as a sole source of nutrition under medical supervision. They have a variety of products to cover a variet of needs. They have ensure plus which has more calories than ensure; they have products for NG tubes; they have low protien versions; there are version for children; etc. http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/abbott-brands http://abbottnutrition.com/brands/abbott-brands The fact that they limit this marketing to registered healthcare professionals and have a bunch of caveats about "under medical supervision", and Soylent doesn't, is something you can draw your own conclusions about. Some people will see this as disruptive and an example of a small nimble supplier filling a niche; other people will see it as SV pathologically avoiding reasonable regulation.