The Truth

The Truth

As a first and most basic step, let’s look into the ingredients of some of these health drinks.

Horlicks - Malted barley, milk solids, sugar, wheat flour, malted wheat, minerals, protein isolate, emulsifier, salt, acidity regulator, vitamins, natural color

Bournvita - Malt extract, sugar, cocoa solids, milk solids, caramel, liquid glucose, permitted emulsifiers, vitamins, minerals, raising agent, salt

Complan - Skimmed milk, lactose, vegetable oil, maltodextrin, sugar, glucose syrup, fat reduced cocoa powder, dextrose, flavourings, magnesium sulphate, thickener (xanthan gum), vitamin mix, mineral mix.

Boost - Malted barley, wheat flour, sugar, milk solids, minerals, colour, glucose, salt, acidity regulator, cocoa powder, vitamin, protein isolate, edible fiber, nature identical flavouring substances

A small ‘did you know’ before we go ahead an analyze these lists.

• In any product, the ingredients need to be listed in the order of maximum composition. That is, the first ingredient is the most dominant ingredient followed by the second and then the third and so on.

So now let’s analyze these health drinks by looking at their ingredients from a slightly different perspective.

Product	What it contains	What it really contains
Horlicks	Malted barley, milk solids, sugar, wheat flour, malted wheat, minerals, protein isolate, emulsifier, salt, acidity regulator, vitamins, natural color	Grain, processed junk, sugar, grain, grain, artificial minerals, processed junk, junk, junk, salt, artificial vitamins, junk
Bournvita	Malt extract, sugar, cocoa solids, milk solids, caramel, liquid glucose, permitted emulsifiers, vitamins, minerals, raising agent, salt	Grain, sugar, processed junk, processed junk, sugar, sugar, junk, artificial vitamins, artificial minerals, junk, salt
Complan	Skimmed milk, lactose, vegetable oil, maltodextrin, sugar, glucose syrup, fat reduced cocoa powder, dextrose, flavourings, magnesium sulphate, thickener (xanthan gum), vitamin mix, mineral mix.	Processed junk, sugar, oxidizable unstable fat, sugar, sugar, sugar, processed junk, sugar, junk, junk, junk, artificial vitamins, artificial minerals
Boost	Malted barley, wheat flour, sugar, milk solids, minerals, colour, glucose, salt, acidity regulator, cocoa powder, vitamin, protein isolate, edible fiber, nature identical flavouring substances	Grain, grain, sugar, processed junk, artificial minerals, junk, sugar, junk, junk, junk, artificial vitamins, processed junk, junk, junk

And just so we’re clear