Meal Replacements Safe & Effective?
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| Wed, 08-29-2007 - 11:40pm |
Here is an interesting article about Meal Replacement bars and shakes.
With sales of over
$1 billion a year,
meal replacement
shakes and bars
are staples for American dieters.
The idea behind these products
is to replace a meal with a lowercalorie
shake or bar twice a day,
then eat one “regular†meal.
Sounds simple enough,
but are they safe? And do
they work?
The answer to both
questions is yes—but
there are a few things
to consider.
Safety First
“Meal replacements are
as safe for people
with diabetes as
they are for the
general public,â€
says Marion J.
Franz, MS, RD,
CDE, a nutrition
health consultant in
Minneapolis, Minn. “Most of
them are well fortified with
vitamins and minerals.â€
Franz recommends that you
read labels very carefully, both
for nutritional content and for
carbohydrate count. Taken by
themselves, many meal replacements
are high in carbohydrate.
However, they’re often lower in
carbohydrate than the meals
Meal replacements
Safe And Effective?
you’re using them to replace. That
will affect how much diabetes
medication or insulin you need.
“Talk to your doctor or
diabetes educator about your
medications because your meds
are set up to cover the foods you
eat,†says Franz. “If you dramatically
cut back on your food intake
,
you’ll need to adjust your insulin
or medications accordingly.â€
Effectiveness
Meal replacements may be safe,
but can they help you lose
weight?
“They can and do work,†says
John Bantle, MD, professor of
medicine at the University of
Minnesota and researcher in the
multicenter Look AHEAD trial,
a study of the health benefits of
weight loss in people with type 2
diabetes. Some participants in
this trial are using meal replacements
as part of an intensive
weight-loss program. (For more
on the trial, see Research Shorts
on page 27.)
“Each shake or bar is about
200 to 250 calories. If you have
one of those instead of a burger
and fries or a tuna sandwich with
chips, that will be fewer calories,
and fewer calories means weight
loss,†Bantle says.
He says the convenience and
packaging of meal replacements
may be key to their effectiveness.
“There’s your can or your bar,
and you have that, and that’s all,â€
he says. “But with food, many of
us will eat a meal and if there’s
anything left on the table, we’ll
eat that, too. It’s human nature to
nibble.â€
Bantle points to a German
study that shows the effectiveness
of meal replacements. “There was
a significant weight loss of 11
percent among two-thirds of the
participants at 27 months,†he
says. “On the other hand, a third
of the participants dropped out.â€
That high dropout rate is an
indication of a potential problem,
Bantle says. “It gets boring. After
a while, you can get tired of
. Also, they don’t
fill you up the same way as eating
a meal, so there’s a question
of satiety.â€
In short, using meal replacements
works, as long as you stick
to it. “Whatever you do for
weight loss, you have to do it
long term to be successful,â€
Bantle says.
Franz agrees. “It’s up to the
individual,†she says. “Like many
other weight-loss interventions,
they work when people follow
them.â€
Terri D’Arrigo is an associate
editor of Diabetes Forecast.
D i a b e t es F o 16 r e c a s t | a u g u s t 2 0 0 7






Corrine
Hi Corrine!
Hi Corrina,
Welcome to the board. Most of the meal replacements that are made for us diabetics have all the necessary nutrients in then except for fiber. Fiber is what slows the absorption along with protein and it gives you that full feeling.
I personally don't use meal replacements because I am on a specially designed eating plan that was worked out for me by a dietitian. It has worked really well. I don't feel deprived most of the time. I count carbs and that makes eating more normal.
I am glad you found us and hope you will stay around and visit with us.