Meal Replacements And Overall Health: What Do Consumers Gain And Lose?

People nowadays have become more health conscious. For this reason, numerous health products including meal replacements have come out in the market. But while manufacturers claim that these products are beneficial to one's overall health, some consumers report about experiencing negative effects.

May you never be far from your next snack. Reposted from @thefickl #soylentbar #fueledbysoylent

A photo posted by Soylent (@soylent) on Oct 3, 2016 at 12:07pm PDT

Recently, CBC News reported about Soylent meal replacement bars being recalled due to cases of illnesses. The popular bars are sold online in Canada. At present, they are likewise being recalled in the United States. The company's website has also stopped selling them.

Soylent stated in its blog that a small number of consumers reported gastrointestinal issues after eating the products. The company began investigating the cause and as of writing, it has not yet found one. Furthermore, the issue seems to not appear in other Soylent items.

Meanwhile, CNN reported about the gain and loss a consumer may have from opting for meal replacements. For people who might wonder why some customers opt to consume a single bar instead of a full meal, it is because the product is supposedly a convenient option to consume the same nutrition and sustenance a balanced meal offers. Apart from Soylent, Ample, Ambronite, and SlimFast also offer similar products and claim to have the ability to replace real food with ready-to-eat bars and ready-to-drink shakes.

On the other hand, the question on the products' effectiveness has different answers depending on what a consumer intends to replace. According to Sharon Akabas from the Columbia University, meal replacement products are only beneficial to overall health only when used to replace unhealthy food. Akabas is the Institute of Human Nutrition associate director.

At times, meal replacements are used to help sick patients who are having a hard time eating. They can also be a great start in losing weight. However clinical associate professor of nutrition Charles Mueller said that free-living people should eat whole food; because if they don't, they might miss out on all the food nutrients needed by the body. They might likewise miss out on dietary fiber and healthy bacteria that the body truly needs.

Meal replacement items may indeed have their share of advantages in people's overall health. But consumers should have enough knowledge on the proper way of using such products.