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True meal replacements which are suitable for long-term use are not widely marketed to consumers. They tend to be available only through medical channels.

by bosdev 11y ago

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
geofft 11y ago
1. Why is Ensure unsuitable for long-term use? (It's available at every local supermarket and drugstore, nutritionally complete, and marketed as being suitable for exactly this purpose.) 2. If we're assuming that this is a meal replacement for when you don't want to eat traditional meals, does it matter if it's suitable for long-term use?
- Retra 11y ago
  "Ensure is intended for supplemental use with or between meals and for interim sole-source nutrition." Soylent is a total food replacement; you don't need to eat anything else at all. It's not supplemental, and it's not interim. If you're not eating it a lot, then no, there isn't any need for Soylent.
  - harryjo 11y ago
    The difference between Ensure and Soylent isn't that Doylent is more sustainable; it's that Ensure protects its reputation by discouraging potentially unhealthy uses, while Soylent just bluffs to "fake it till they make it"
  - geofft 11y ago
    Ensure is also intended for complete replacement of meals; they just don't market that way in the US to the general public. They do to doctors, and they're more open about this use outside the US. From https://ensure.ca/en/faq https://ensure.ca/en/faq : For how long can I use Ensure®?? How many servings do I need to consume each day to meet my daily needs for good health? Ensure® products deliver complete and balanced nutrition Ensure® products can be used daily. Individual needs depend on many factors — age, gender, level of activity, health status. Please consult your health care professional for details related to your health. Can Ensure® replace a meal? Yes. Ensure® products are complete and balanced, when used in appropriate amounts they can be used to replace meals. Basically, if you're going to do something like switch to Ensure or Soylent or anything as your sole meal source, talk to your doctor first, but if the doctor doesn't object, Ensure is as usable for this purpose as Soylent.
    - Retra 11y ago
      Yes, it "can replace meals." It can't replace all meals, and that wording exhibits a good deal of effort trying to hide that fact from you. What is the appropriate amount of Ensure you'd have to eat in a day to survive on nothing else, and is that the actual amount recommended for meal replacement?
      - DanBC 11y ago
        This is untrue. Ensure can be, and has been, used as sole source of nutrition. > that wording exhibits a good deal of effort trying to hide that fact from you. No, that wording is keeping them compliant with stringent regulatory systems. The fact that Soylent ignores that regulation is a bug, not a feature. More than one person has pointed out your error. The fact you continue to push it is dishonest.
      - geofft 11y ago
        Talk to your doctor. The manufacturers tell doctors all of this; they just don't market that to the general public. That's also the right answer for the same question about Soylent, btw. It just turns out that people who are unenthusiastic about proper medical advice form a lucrative market.
- sirsar 11y ago
  Thank you - I was under the impression that Soylent was significantly cheaper than Ensure, but after doing some napkin math it seems to be roughly equivalent (powder form) or actually more expensive (bottled form) per calorie.
  - dajohnson89 11y ago
    Ensure and Soylent have radically different purposes. Ensure is meant for weight loss. Soylent is meant for nutritional sustenance.
    - harryjo 11y ago
      Ensure is not meant for weight loss. Ensure is liquid food for people who can't eat.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - geofft 11y ago
      Are you thinking of Slim-Fast? From https://ensure.ca/en/faq https://ensure.ca/en/faq : Will I gain weight if I drink Ensure®? You can increase weight if that is your intended goal. Consuming Ensure® Regular or Ensure® High Protein (1.0 kcal/mL) [...] is a good way to maintain a healthy weight and help build muscle mass. Ensure® Plus Calories has a higher caloric content (1.5 kcal/mL) and may help you in increasing your weight. [...] Ensure Plus is labeled in the US as "to gain or maintain a healthy weight" or somesuch. There's no difference in what they're meant for. It's just that the makers of Ensure are much more conservative about marketing. (The ellipses in the quote above are all "please, please talk to your doctor.") If you prefer a product whose marketing strategy is more cavalier about human nutritional needs, but not meaningfully different in terms of actual product, by all means use Soylent. But Ensure is cheaper and available off-the-shelf everywhere.
      - aianus 11y ago
        Ensure is inferior to Soylent in a few ways: - Ensure is nutritionally unbalanced. You'll get 200-400% of some nutrients (Vitamin C, Manganese) over 2000 calories and much less than 100% of others (fiber). Drinking Ensure over a whole day would have you consuming 120g of sugar (!), double that of Soylent. - Ensure comes in a fixed variety of flavors, all of which are sickeningly sweet. You can make Soylent as flavorful and sweet as you want or drink it bland, depending on your preference. - Ensure comes in silly formats (250 calorie bottles? what, am I supposed to open and drink three at a time?) - Ensure uses milk products while Soylent is Vegan.

True meal replacements which are suitable for long-term use are not widely marketed to consumers. They tend to be available only through medical channels.

by bosdev 11y ago

True meal replacements which are suitable for long-term use are not widely marketed to consumers. They tend to be available only through medical channels.

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

geofft 11y ago

1. Why is Ensure unsuitable for long-term use? (It's available at every local supermarket and drugstore, nutritionally complete, and marketed as being suitable for exactly this purpose.) 2. If we're assuming that this is a meal replacement for when you don't want to eat traditional meals, does it matter if it's suitable for long-term use?

Retra 11y ago
"Ensure is intended for supplemental use with or between meals and for interim sole-source nutrition." Soylent is a total food replacement; you don't need to eat anything else at all. It's not supplemental, and it's not interim. If you're not eating it a lot, then no, there isn't any need for Soylent.
- harryjo 11y ago
  The difference between Ensure and Soylent isn't that Doylent is more sustainable; it's that Ensure protects its reputation by discouraging potentially unhealthy uses, while Soylent just bluffs to "fake it till they make it"
- geofft 11y ago
  Ensure is also intended for complete replacement of meals; they just don't market that way in the US to the general public. They do to doctors, and they're more open about this use outside the US. From https://ensure.ca/en/faq https://ensure.ca/en/faq : For how long can I use Ensure®?? How many servings do I need to consume each day to meet my daily needs for good health? Ensure® products deliver complete and balanced nutrition Ensure® products can be used daily. Individual needs depend on many factors — age, gender, level of activity, health status. Please consult your health care professional for details related to your health. Can Ensure® replace a meal? Yes. Ensure® products are complete and balanced, when used in appropriate amounts they can be used to replace meals. Basically, if you're going to do something like switch to Ensure or Soylent or anything as your sole meal source, talk to your doctor first, but if the doctor doesn't object, Ensure is as usable for this purpose as Soylent.
  - Retra 11y ago
    Yes, it "can replace meals." It can't replace all meals, and that wording exhibits a good deal of effort trying to hide that fact from you. What is the appropriate amount of Ensure you'd have to eat in a day to survive on nothing else, and is that the actual amount recommended for meal replacement?
    - DanBC 11y ago
      This is untrue. Ensure can be, and has been, used as sole source of nutrition. > that wording exhibits a good deal of effort trying to hide that fact from you. No, that wording is keeping them compliant with stringent regulatory systems. The fact that Soylent ignores that regulation is a bug, not a feature. More than one person has pointed out your error. The fact you continue to push it is dishonest.
    - geofft 11y ago
      Talk to your doctor. The manufacturers tell doctors all of this; they just don't market that to the general public. That's also the right answer for the same question about Soylent, btw. It just turns out that people who are unenthusiastic about proper medical advice form a lucrative market.
sirsar 11y ago
Thank you - I was under the impression that Soylent was significantly cheaper than Ensure, but after doing some napkin math it seems to be roughly equivalent (powder form) or actually more expensive (bottled form) per calorie.
- dajohnson89 11y ago
  Ensure and Soylent have radically different purposes. Ensure is meant for weight loss. Soylent is meant for nutritional sustenance.
  - harryjo 11y ago
    Ensure is not meant for weight loss. Ensure is liquid food for people who can't eat.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - geofft 11y ago
    Are you thinking of Slim-Fast? From https://ensure.ca/en/faq https://ensure.ca/en/faq : Will I gain weight if I drink Ensure®? You can increase weight if that is your intended goal. Consuming Ensure® Regular or Ensure® High Protein (1.0 kcal/mL) [...] is a good way to maintain a healthy weight and help build muscle mass. Ensure® Plus Calories has a higher caloric content (1.5 kcal/mL) and may help you in increasing your weight. [...] Ensure Plus is labeled in the US as "to gain or maintain a healthy weight" or somesuch. There's no difference in what they're meant for. It's just that the makers of Ensure are much more conservative about marketing. (The ellipses in the quote above are all "please, please talk to your doctor.") If you prefer a product whose marketing strategy is more cavalier about human nutritional needs, but not meaningfully different in terms of actual product, by all means use Soylent. But Ensure is cheaper and available off-the-shelf everywhere.
    - aianus 11y ago
      Ensure is inferior to Soylent in a few ways: - Ensure is nutritionally unbalanced. You'll get 200-400% of some nutrients (Vitamin C, Manganese) over 2000 calories and much less than 100% of others (fiber). Drinking Ensure over a whole day would have you consuming 120g of sugar (!), double that of Soylent. - Ensure comes in a fixed variety of flavors, all of which are sickeningly sweet. You can make Soylent as flavorful and sweet as you want or drink it bland, depending on your preference. - Ensure comes in silly formats (250 calorie bottles? what, am I supposed to open and drink three at a time?) - Ensure uses milk products while Soylent is Vegan.