In a bottle that nutritious?
the drink provides nearly half the protein compared with a bowl of porridge and twice as much sugar, although it is coming from fruit purées and milk which is better than “added sugars”. Not everyone will find this cold oat-based puree palatable. £1.50 for 330ml, 191 calories, 0.3g fat, 20g sugar, 20g protein CLEARLY marketed at active types, the main selling point of this drink, which comes in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate flavours, is the high protein content.
It’s sold as a breakfast drink and if you were to have this in place of your usual bowl of porridge, on the upside you’d be getting more than twice as much protein but on the downside there is less fibre and three times as much sugar.
It’s a bit lacklustre in terms of flavour and consistency – the drink’s a little too watery to feel like a meal replacement. £1.59 for 250ml, 170 calories, 3.75g fat, 19.25g sugar, 8.5g protein AGAIN marketed as a fully-fledged breakfast replacement, in the form of a smoothie-type drink which comes in strawberry and banana and mango and peach varieties.
This fruit smoothie is made with mostly yogurt, oats, fruit purée and sweeteners. It’s a case of paying the price for convenience.
A 250ml bottle will provide no more protein, less fibre and more saturated fat than a bowl of bran flakes and skimmed milk topped with banana. These products market themselves as a convenient breakfast on the go but sadly many do not tick all the boxes.
A far better approach would be to set aside 10 minutes in the evening to prepare some overnight oats or bag up some smoothie ingredients to blend in the morning.
Emma Brown MSc is a nutritionist at calorie tracker service Nutracheck. Visit nutra check.co.uk for more information.