Glucerna Review – Shocking truth about Glucerna

What is Glucerna?

Featuring a lineup of shakes intended for the carbohydrate conscious community, it’s meant to provide a slow gradual maintenance in blood sugar. There’s even mention of it being the number 1 doctor suggested brand for those with diabetes.

The product is available in many different flavors and in advanced and hunger satisfying specific formulas. While the product is very popular it’s now important to figure out how valuable it actually is.

Time to see what it can do.

Who makes it?

US based Abbott Laboratories which not only produces health care products, but they’re also a pharmaceutical giant. The company has been in operation since 1888.

They currently hold 2 records. One for receiving the 2^nd largest criminal penalty in the US, the second record for landing the 3^rd largest penalty of any pharmaceutical company. Both were handed for illegal marketing of their products in which lies were made of the potential benefits.

How (and) does it work?

A standard 8 ounce bottle of Glucerna contains about 200 calories with 10 grams of protein, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 6 grams of sugar and 27 vitamins and minerals.

The real kicker is how they source their protein which comes from soy protein isolate. This while easy to digest and full of amino acids is genetically modified. Also there is a high potential risk of it interfering with ones natural hormones and it may possibly effect estrogen production.

This product does not feature the optimum amount of good ingredients for optimum demands. It has artificial ingredients, soy, and corn based additives.

What’s inside of it and are there side effects?

Since it relies on soy protein isolate to provide its protein, it isn’t the optimum choice for those looking to avoid GMO’s and potential estrogen production. Soy and GMO free shakes are listed in a list featuring the overall top 10 best meal replacement goods.

Ingredients:

• Corn Maltodextrin: Corn sourced food thickener that’s a carbohydrate that raises blood sugar.
• High Oleic Sunflower Oil: High in monounsaturated fats meant to preserve shelf life longer.
• Soy Protein Isolate: Form of protein extracted from soybeans and used to provide all amino acids at an easy to digest rate. It is one of the most GMO type foods produced.
• Sucromalt: Has similar calories to sugar however this sweetener is slowly digested by the body.
• Fructose: Fast absorbed fruit sugar that is considered the sweetest and one of the cheapest forms available.

Potential Side Effects: Headaches, diarrhea, vomiting, gas, bloating, cramping, abdominal pain, dehydration, and fatigue.

What’s good about it?

It has a wide distribution and can be purchased in bulk. Also many flavors are offered thru every single one of their specific brands. It also has a clearly listed nutritional facts listing that’s available to read before purchase. Products are gluten free and safe to consume by those who are lactose intolerant.

What’s bad about it?

The first 2 ingredients from this product are water and corn maltodextrin which are meant to thicken it. This means that the product(unlike others) does not have an optimum set of protein needed to provide the body with the nutrition and hunger satisfying profile a shake should have.

Low ranking quality of ingredients is a repeated issue as most of the ingredients present are cheap substitutes for high quality ingredients. There is GMO soy inside instead of the healthier non genetically modified source. Also the product contains a bunch of other corn derivatives that are also GMO. Even included are artificial ingredients which are not needed and only add a bit of flavoring.

Inside these bottles are good forms of sweeteners in the form of Sucromalt, but then they add fructose which is known to cause blood sugar spikes. It contradicts and deflates the addition of a low blood sugar producing sweetener and it’s only added because it’s cheap to add.

Wrap Up

It’s great when a product fits in a niche market meant to help those struggling with diabetes or for those who need a blood sugar stabilizing product. This product aims to target that and it does feature a good sweetener. However it also has a form of sugar known to contribute to high cholesterol, obesity and a rise in blood sugar. It could have been avoided but instead it’s added in order to give a cheap source of sugar. This habit repeats itself by featuring cheaply priced and inferior ingredients that don’t perform as well. It’s too lacking in quality and nutrition to be considered a good option.

Bottom Line:

It would have been great if this product lived up to its own hype and marketing. Though fortunately there are better suited substituted that provide high quality featured inside a top 10 list.

Searching for the right option in terms of meal replacement shakes is even easier when you notice the well suited options. A comprehensive listing of the 10 best products is broken down front to back.