If youre either elderly, or taking care of someone who is, you want to know the most nutritious things they can consume to maintain, or better yet, improve their health.
Sometimes, people have either lost their appetite, are in a hurry, so they need something fast, or just a preference, so youre looking into nutritional drinks for elderly people.
But the number of nutritional drinks is so vast that its dizzying. How do you know youre getting a good product, and not just a milkshake, posing as a nutritional drink? Thats what youll find out in this article.
Well cover:
- The nutritional needs of the elderly
- What are nutritional drinks, and the 5 different categories
- The pros and cons of nutritional drinks
- Specific ingredients to look for
- Individual products, and how they fit the criteria were looking for
But before we jump in, who am I to be writing about this? How rude of me. Let me introduce myself.
My name is Igor. Hi
Im the author of 10 different books on exercise and nutrition, including 3 Amazon bestsellers, like High Blood Pressure Reversal Secrets, Type 2 Diabetes Reversal Secrets and Osteoporosis Reversal Secrets.
As well, since 2010, Ive been running a personal training company that specializes in the elderly. If you want personalized help with your fitness and nutrition, just fill out the application form on our home page.
Nutritional Needs of the Elderly
What was healthy when someone was young is still healthy when someone is older. In other words, fruits, veggies and protein are not any less important when someone gets older.
However, there are 3 nutrients to really mind once someone gets older:
- Protein
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin D
I go into the details of why and good sources in the video below, so I wont rehash that here.
Do You Need a Doctors Approval?
Should you speak to a doctor before starting to consume nutritional drinks? Depends. If youre otherwise healthy, and arent taking any medications, then no, you dont.
But if you are on medications or have some chronic conditions, some of these nutritional drinks contain ingredients that may interact with your medications, and some of those interactions arent so great.
But even so, I wouldnt be speaking to a doctor about that. Rather, Id speak to a pharmacist, since their whole area of expertise is the interactions between drugs and nutrients.
It might also make sense to speak to a dietitian, since they understand food.
What Are Nutritional Drinks?
The term nutritional drinks is so broad, it encompasses a lot of different things, like:
- Meal replacements
- Protein shakes
- Smoothies
- Kefir
- Kombucha
and others.
All of them have benefits and drawbacks. Lets go over some of them.
Pros and Cons of Nutritional Drinks
Here are some of the benefits of nutritional drinks, and why theyre so popular:
- Taste: there are many flavors to choose from, and they often taste fantastic
- Protein: the most common nutritional recommendation I make after evaluating clients current protein intake is eat more protein. Most people (especially the elderly) undereat protein. If youre wondering how much protein should I be getting, I created a special tool where you can plug in your age, weight, and activity levels, and itll tell you. Here it is.
- Prep time: zero. Theres no prep time required. Just twist the lid, and drink it.
Here are some of the drawbacks of nutritional drinks:
- Sugar: some products are just thinly disguised milkshakes. This isnt too much of a problem for a non-diabetic, who also exercises 3-6 days a week, and isnt overweight, but for other people, its not the best thing ever.
- Its not food. There are still lots of nutrients in food that we arent aware of, and yet, nature has packaged it perfectly. Food has nutrients that nutritional drinks may not have.
- Medication interactions. Lots of nutritional drinks have bonus ingredients beyond just nutrients. And some of their nutrients are at levels beyond the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) level, which could cause interactions with medications. So if you are on medications, talk to a pharmacist first.
- Digestive issues. Most nutritional drinks are dairy-based, and lactose intolerance increases with age. Also, some of them use sugar alcohols as sweeteners (like xylitol, erythritol, maltitol, etc.). While pretty harmless, sugar alcohols do produce a lot of gas. If someone tolerates dairy well, then there arent really negative health consequences there. Other than a little gas. But thats someone elses problem. Not yours
And now, lets talk about the pros and cons of the different nutritional drinks that we mentioned earlier.
Meal Replacements
For a nutritional drink to be a true meal replacement, it has to well replace a meal. A meal usually contains a few things:
- Veggies
- Starches
- Protein
So a meal replacement shake should have carbs (including fiber), fats, and protein.
The advantage of true meal replacement shakes is that theyre higher in calories, to they really replace a meal, making them more filling.
Theyre also balanced. So they dont just have a single nutrient (like protein), but a variety of nutrients.
The disadvantage of meal replacements is that they do contain less protein than a protein shake, so if youre having a hard time meeting your protein requirements through food alone, a meal replacement shake wont help as much as a protein shake.
Protein Shakes
With a protein shake, you just take some protein powder, combine it with a liquid (milk, water, etc.), shake it up, and presto you have a protein shake.
The main advantage of protein shakes is the obvious protein. One scoop of protein powder usually contains 25-30 grams of protein. A chicken breast is about 30-40 grams of protein, so its a hefty amount.
Another advantage is that they taste great.
Most people with lactose intolerance can tolerate protein shakes. Lactose is a sugar, and protein is not sugar. So lots of protein powders are lactose-free.
A disadvantage of protein shakes is that theyre just protein. Nothing else. No fiber, no fat, etc.
Also, depending on the kind of protein powder you get, usually, plant-based ones dont blend well. They have a grainy/sandy texture. But whey protein blends very smoothly.
Smoothies
The definition of a smoothie varies widely, from the very healthy, which contains protein, fiber and more, to basically a super thick, super sugary fruit juice with no health benefits.
Smoothies are usually fruit-based, and theyre pureed with milk, cream, yogurt or ice cream. Obviously, thats a lot of variation between whats good, and whats not so good.
Kefir
Kefir is a popular, dairy-based nutritional drink. Its great for digestion, even in those with lactose intolerance. It contains healthy bacteria that pre-digest the lactose for you.
The disadvantages: its a very specific use. Its pretty low in protein (only about 8 grams per cup, when most people require 90-150 grams/day), and has no fiber.
Kombucha
Kombucha is fermented tea. This can also be good for digestion.
Its lower in calories than kefir, which is good if youre looking to lose weight. Bad if youre looking to gain weight.
Like kefir, its low in protein (actually, it basically has no protein) and has no fiber.
Some people find it a bit sour, and others find it just the right level of sweet.
If you did want to drink it, you wouldnt do it as a meal replacement, but rather, like youd drink tea.
Ingredients to Look For
As mentioned earlier, the main nutrients that the elderly need to mind are protein, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.
But whereas you probably couldnt get a super high level of protein in a drink if you tried (because protein is measured in grams), its easy to get more vitamin B12 and vitamin D (because theyre measured in micrograms) than you need. Theres no harm in excess B12, since you just pee it out, but there is harm in excess vitamin D.
So ideally, you have a drink with over 25 grams of protein, a bit of vitamin D (around 400 IU), and a bit of vitamin B12 (under 2 mcg).
Some fiber (at least 3-4 grams) is beneficial as well.
Specific Nutritional Drinks for the Elderly
So far, Ive been giving background information, and big picture recommendations. But lets get down to the nitty-gritty specific products that are out there, and what I think about them.
Ensure
Ensure is a brand name, but they have a bunch of different products in their product line. Ill give you the bare basics.
Most Ensure products (Ensure Plus, Ensure High Protein, Ensure Light, etc.) are low-to-moderate in protein (in the 8-14 grams of protein range). Their highest protein product is Ensure Max Protein. And despite this being their highest protein product, it only contains about 20 grams of protein. Thats an amount that is considered moderate. The name is very flashy, but deceptive.
Its only Max protein, compared to the rest of their products. Its not a Max protein compared to a protein powder, which would contain 25-30 grams of protein.
Also, the fiber content of most Ensure products is low-to-moderate (3 grams per bottle or less).
I wrote a full article on Ensure Drinks, which you can read here.
Glucerna
Glucerna is a drink very similar to Ensure, but the basic Glucerna contains only 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of fiber. On the surface, it looks like a worse drink compared to Ensure. But one bottle of most Ensure drinks is around 350 calories. One bottle of Glucerna is only 180 calories. So you could have 2 bottles of Glucerna, which would give you about 20 grams of protein and a whopping 8 grams of fiber.
If you have to choose between Ensure and Glucerna, choose Glucerna. Again, I have a full article about Glucerna here.
Boost
Boost is another popular nutritional shake, but probably only popular because of its taste and marketing. Because nutritionally, its worse than both Glucerna and Ensure.
A bottle of Boost contains 250 calories, 10 grams of protein, and no fiber.
On the upside, its also like a weak multivitamin, which is not bad for a nutritional shake, thats not actually a multivitamin.
Basically, its the slightly healthier version of a milkshake.
Orgain
Much less popular than the previous option is Orgain, which is a plant-based protein powder. As a protein powder, its not that good. It only contains 21 grams. Most whey protein powders are in the 25-30 gram range.
As a meal replacement, its also not that good, because it only contains 2 grams of fiber, which is very low.
And it doesnt even contain the low-level multivitamin you find in the other drinks.
Although Ive never tasted it, I have tasted lots of plant-based protein powders, and if its anything like them, chances are, the texture is sandy/grainy.
Id give this one a thumbs down all around. No offence.
Nepro
This is a meal replacement shake thats actually pretty decent. One bottle of Nepro has 19 grams of protein, and a respectable 6 grams of fiber. And it also contains enough vitamins and minerals to be like a low-level multivitamin, which is fine those are bonuses.
Yes, they throw in some carnitine and taurine, with the claims that carnitine and taurine are good for heart health and they are. But not at the doses they use them in Nepro. For heart health, carnitine needs to be in the 500-4000 mg range. Nepro only contains 63 mg. Taurine is usually given at doses of over 1500 mg. Nepro contains 38 mg.
At those levels of carnitine and taurine, the only thing theyre good for is marketing not heart health.
But whatever. Even if you take out the carnitine and taurine, its a decent drink.
Muscle Milk
For a product sold at gas stations, this is impressively good! Muscle Milk contains 25 grams of protein (which is more than most meal replacements), but also a respectable 5 grams of fiber (which is in the level usually found in meal replacements).
It doesnt have all the nutrients of Nepro or other meal replacements, but with just the protein and fiber alone, its quite good.
Premier Protein
Premier Protein is primarily a protein shake that might be one of the best options on this list, if not the single best.
Of all the options on this list, it has the highest protein content 30 grams per serving. Its not the highest in fiber (only 3 grams), but unlike most protein powders, it actually contains a wide array of vitamins and minerals.
Make Your Own
Ive talked about the various different products. Theres no real perfect product out there. At least not yet. Those that are high in protein are lower in fiber. Those that are higher in fiber are lower in protein.
So why not make your own shake thats high in everything protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals? Its easy to do, its tasty and its healthy.
Heres your template:
- Start with a base. If youre happy with your weight, or you want to lose weight, use water or almond milk. If youre trying to either maintain or gain weight, use whole milk, coconut milk, or oat milk as a base.
- Add protein powder. This gives you a nice, 30-gram scoop of protein.
- Add 3 vegetables. This will give you a lot of vitamins and minerals.
- Add seeds (chia seeds, hemp seeds, flaxseeds)
- Add berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.)
Voila! Heres a drink with about 30-45 grams of protein (depending on what you used as a base water vs. milk), 6-12 grams of fiber, and lots of vitamins and minerals.
As far as I know theres nothing like it on the market, but you can make it on your own in under 10 minutes.
The downside is only logistical: it takes 5-10 minutes, you have to wash dishes, and you have to blend it.
