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Ensure Nutrition shakes are a great way to supplement your diet with all the important nutrients and minerals needed for good health. With the right ingredients, nutrition shakes can provide you with an all-in-one meal replacement solution that is easy, quick and convenient. But, is Ensure vegan?
Ensure Plant-Based Protein Shakes are vegan because they don’t contain ingredient sourced from animals. All other flavors contains milk, making them unsuitable for vegans.
Below is a table showing Ensure Nutrition Shake flavors and its vegan status.
| Flavor | Vegan Status |
| Ensure Plant-Based Protein Shakes | Vegan. |
| Ensure Original Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Plus Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure COMPLETE Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Max Protein Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure High Protein Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Clear Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Compact Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Original Nutrition Powder | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Surgery Immunonutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
| Ensure Pre-Surgery Clear Carbohydrate Drink | Maybe, contains Natural Flavor. |
| Ensure Enlive Advanced Nutrition Shakes | No, contains Milk. |
Ensure Nutrition Shake Ingredients
Below is a list of ingredients from all the flavors that I could find.
- Ascorbic Acid
- Biotin
- Blend Of Vegetable Oils
- Calcium Carbonate
- Calcium Pantothenate
- Calcium Phosphate
- Carrageenan
- Cellulose Gel
- Cellulose Gum
- Chicory Root Fiber
- Choline Chloride
- Chromium Chloride
- Cocoa Powder (Processed With Alkali)
- Copper Sulfate
- Corn Maltodextrin
- Corn
- Dl-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate
- Fava Bean Protein Isolate
- Ferrous Sulfate
- Folic Acid
- High Oleic Safflower Oil
- Magnesium Phosphate
- Magnesium Sulfate
- Manganese Sulfate
- Milk Protein Concentrate
- Monoglycerides
- Monk Fruit Extract
- Natural & Artificial Flavors
- Niacinamide
- Nonfat Milk
- Oat Fiber
- Organic Sugar
- Pea Protein Concentrate
- Phylloquinone
- Potassium Chloride
- Potassium Citrate
- Potassium Hydroxide
- Potassium Iodide
- Pyridoxine Hydrochloride
- Riboflavin
- Salt
- Sodium Citrate
- Sodium Molybdate
- Sodium Selenate
- Soy Lecithin
- Soy Protein Isolate
- Stevia Leaf Extract
- Sugar
- Sunflower Lecithin
- Thiamine Hydrochloride
- Vitamin A Palmitate
- Vitamin B12
- Vitamin D3
- Vitamin D3 [Plant-Based]
- Water
- Zinc Sulfate
[Source]
As always I’ve highlighted the ingredients that we need to take a closer look at.
Non-Vegan Ingredients
Milk
Since cows drink milk, it’s not a vegan-friendly ingredient.
Questionable Ingredients
Sugar
Sugar is a controversial ingredient for vegans because of the risk of bone char from dead cows being used in the production process. But it’s not all types sugar that has this risk only refined cane sugar.
This means that beet sugar and raw cane sugar is always 100% vegan-friendly. The reason cane sugar gets refined is because it’s easier to use than raw cane sugar. A common method to bleach the cane sugar in the refining process is to use bone char from dead cows.
This does not align with veganism.
Natural Flavors
This is an important ingredient to talk about because many natural flavors do contain natural flavors. The problem with natural flavors is the fact that companies can put whatever ingredient they wish to accomplish their taste inside natural flavors without needing to disclose all the ingredients.
This can result in natural flavors containing non-vegan ingredients that are not disclosed.
Corn & Soy
Corn and soy are two of the most common GMO crops in the US and many vegans will stay away from these. The reason for this is the high amount of herbicide that is needed in order for the crop to grow. This can pollute the surrounding ecosystem and damage it severely.
Vitamin D3
Vitamin D3 is often made from lanolin (sheep’s wool). However it can be made from plants as well, but the source is not disclosed.
Conclusion
It’s good that Ensure has one vegan flavor called Ensure Plant-Based Protein Shakes. Not many supplement brands creates vegan-friendly options if their entire product line uses whey protein. The vegan market is growing larger every day, which is leading to companies adding more options.
Thanks for reading, take care!
