 June 2012 Ensure product lineup | |
| Product type | Dietary supplement, Meal replacement |
|---|---|
| Owner | Abbott Laboratories |
| Country | United States |
| Introduced | 1973; 51 years ago (1973) |
| Website | www |
Ensure is an American brand of nutritional supplements and meal replacements manufactured by Abbott Laboratories.
A 237-ml (8-fl oz) bottle of Ensure Original contains 220 calories, six grams of fat, 15 grams of sugar, and nine grams of protein. The top six ingredients are water, corn maltodextrin, sugar, milk protein concentrate, canola oil, and soy protein isolate. Ensure is considered lactose-free for people with lactose intolerance.
History
In 1903, Harry C. Moores and Stanley M. Ross launched the "Moores & Ross Milk Company", which specialized in bottling milk for home delivery for the first few years. By 1964, however, the company merged with Abbott Laboratories. A drink called Ensure was first marketed by Ross Laboratories in 1973.
In the 1990s, Ensure and other nutritional drink products like Mead Johnson's Sustacal and Nestlé's Boost and Resource brands were fiercely competing to capture market share among healthy adults. In 1996, Ensure had sales of about $300 million and accounted for 80% of protein supplement sales; Abbott spent $45.4 million to advertise Ensure during the first nine months of 1996, around 70% more than it spent during the same period of 1995.
Criticism
In 1995, the Center for Science in the Public Interest said that ads for Ensure were "the most misleading food ad" of that year. In 1997, Abbott settled charges from the Federal Trade Commission that it was falsely marketing Ensure as having similar amounts of vitamins as multivitamin supplements, and as recommended by doctors more than any other nutritional supplement as a way for people to stay active and healthy.
Ensure has been used in the force feeding of hunger-striking prisoners at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps.
Products
When Abbott split off its pharmaceuticals division, Abbvie, in 2013, the Ensure product line remained with Abbott along with other nutritional products.
As of 2016, variants of Ensure included:
- Ensure Original
- Ensure Original Pudding
- Ensure Plus
- Ensure Gold
- Ensure Sport
- Ensure Enlive
- Ensure High Protein
- Ensure Clear
- Ensure Light
- Ensure Compact
- Ensure Original Nutrition Powder
- Ensure Muscle Health
As of 2016, Ensure Complete had been discontinued.
See also
References
- "Ensure® Original Milk Chocolate Nutrition Shake", ensure.com.
- "Ensure® FAQ, ensure.com
- ^ "Ross Laboratories". Ohio History Central. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
- ^ Burros, Marian (8 January 1997). "Eating Well". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- Gellene, Denise (3 January 1997). "Ensure Maker Settles Ad Charges". Los Angeles Times.
- "Docket No. C-3745: In the Matter of Abbot Laboratories, a corporation" (PDF). FTC. May 30, 1997.
- Photos from Guantanamo’s force-feeding facilities, Washington Post 10 May 2013
- Marbury, Donna (November 29, 2012). "As Abbott and AbbVie move toward split-up, Wall Street waits". Medill Reports. Archived from the original on 26 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- "Ensure Products". Ensure. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- "Ensure Original Pudding". Abbott Nutrition. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- "Muscle drink with HMB targets the middle-aged". LA Times. May 29, 2011. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- "Ensure Complete". Rootine. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- "Optimize Your Cellular Nutrition". Ensure. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
External links
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