Liquid meal replacements: Do the claims hold water?

If you ran out of time for breakfast or can't make it to a cafe for lunch, are fluids good enough instead? You may find later on, you regret substituting liquids for solids so try to make space to eat. Berlin (dpa) – Sometimes your schedule may be so tight that you can't even squeeze in a sandwich. So what do you do when your stomach growls in protest? Why not simply down a meal replacement drink or shake? They're filling and supply your body with all the important nutrients – or so say their manufacturers. Is this true?  The German consumer watchdog Stiftung Warentest examined six liquid meal replacements based either on milk, peas or oats. Its conclusion in a nutshell: "If you're in a hurry, they're better than currywurst [a popular German fast food consisting of a sausage covered in sauce made from ketchup and curry powder] with chips and mayonnaise."  As regards vitamins and minerals, most of them roughly met recommendations made by professional associations, the product testers say. Total fat content was acceptable too. Nevertheless, the testers say the liquid meals are unsuited as regular substitutes for conventional, balanced meals. Why? For one thing, all of the meals tested were too high in protein, the testers say. While this isn't a problem for healthy people, it could overstrain the kidneys of those with renal insufficiency. What's more, although the liquid meals have no added sugar, their ingredients themselves have up to 30 grams of sugar per millilitre. This means they contain quickly digested, short-chain carbohydrates that cause a spike in blood sugar levels, which is problematic for people with diabetes or prediabetes. A rapid drop in blood sugar that follows can trigger food cravings. On top of that, some of the meal replacement drinks contain the artificial sweetener sucralose, which is suspected of stimulating appetite. Another, perhaps counterintuitive, drawback: You don't have to chew a meal replacement drink. Chewing is important though: Food you need to crush with your teeth into smaller pieces that you can swallow generally makes you feel full longer. And liquid meal replacements can induce you to ingest more than necessary – particularly considering their calorie content, which is considerably higher than in a typical snack. The products tested contained between 400 and 515 kcals, according to the testers, about as many as in a conventional main meal. The following information is not intended for publication dpa/tmn rid tsn xxde ob arw

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