I recently came across this pack that is targeted for the 7+ age bracket. I had earlier shared the ingredient details of Pediasure for the age bracket of 2+ years.
"GROWTH" - this word has become extremely popular these days in the marketing collateral of various health drink brands available in India. Marketing showcases what the target market wants to hear. Parents want to improve the growth parameters of their children and there is a clear demand for such drinks in urban markets.
Let's look in detail about this growth promising drink.
The front of the pack states "with oats and almond". And it also shows oats and almonds in bright, attractive images.
Read the ingredients list and you will notice the meager values of the same - Oats powder is 1% and almond powder is 1%.
The tag line says "Specialized nutrition for growing children". I started getting curious to figure out what this "specialized formulation" is.
And I also wanted to compare it with the 2+ age group product variant to understand what has changed.
As you can see from this table, the carbohydrate value has increased quite a bit. The Sugar value has also slightly increased. If the child is not physically active, all these excess carbs end up stored as fat. No wonder, kids who drink Pediasure put on weight so fast.
The front of the pack talks about High-quality protein. From the ingredients list, the source of the protein is skim milk powder. The protein value is quite low - 11 gm per 100 gm.
Fats have reduced drastically in this 7+ variant. So the majority of the calorie contribution comes from carbohydrates through cheap ingredients like maltodextrin and sugar.
Except for calcium, the rest of the key vitamins and minerals look more or less similar between the two variants.
Milk powder and maltodextrin mixed with sugar, synthetic vitamins and minerals, cocoa powder, and a cryptic artificial flavor - that's all the special formulation is. MRP of 400 gm pack is Rs.395.
Cheap ingredients are being marketed as superior. Do we need such "unnatural" formulations for our growing children?