Harvard Health Ad Watch: Are nutritional drinks actually good for you?

I first heard of nutritional drinks in the 1980s, early in my medical training. They were recommended for people struggling to maintain a healthy weight, often due to loss of appetite, cancer, or swallowing problems. Since then, nutritional supplement drinks like Boost and Ensure have gone mainstream. Their widespread, primetime advertising aimed at a much broader audience has proven highly effective. The market for nutritional drinks is now worth many billions of dollars. In 2019, Ensure sales alone totaled nearly $400 million. When you watch ads for nutritional drinks, do you wonder if you should start drinking them? Will it improve your health or fend off future health problems, as the ads suggest? Are there any downsides? Read on. What the ads say Right now, two ads in heavy rotation are for Boost and Ensure. One 30-second ad for Boost shows a well-appearing older woman holding a camera (a real, two-handed, professional photographer’s camera, not a cell phone). As she takes photos of a young, hipster musical group, she tells the viewer, “I don’t keep track of regrets. And I don’t add up the years. But what I do count on is staying happy and healthy. So I add protein, vitamins, and minerals to my diet — with Boost.” As she happily sips her chocolate drink, a voiceover tells you more. “Boost high-protein nutritional drink has 20 grams of protein, along with 26 essential vitamins and minerals your body needs.” A graphic of a human body with a list of eight of...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Health Healthy Eating Nutrition Vitamins and supplements Source Type: blogs