Ensure® vs. Nepro®

Today was a very long day. I had dialysis in the morning and found out I needed to extend my dialysis time. That was followed by a three hour dentist appointment that turned out to be very painful, and ended with an acupuncturist appointment that lasted until 7:00 pm. I had several temporary crowns put in at the dentist and was told not to eat on that side of the mouth. I was tired, half my face was on fire, so I ended up napping from ~9:00 pm to ~11:00 pm, skipping dinner.

Typically when I skip a meal, I drink a container of Nepro. It’s a protein shake specifically made for dialysis patients by Abbott, the same company that makes Ensure. It also costs more than Ensure, even when I order directly from Abbott, and only has three flavors. Ensure has a lot more varieties and flavors. Since I also have bottles of Ensure High Protein at home, let’s comparison the nutrition labels. I’m going to use Nepro’s label as the base since it has more rows. Both come in 8 oz. containers.

Nutrients	Nepro	Ensure High Protein
Protein	19.1 g	16 g
Total Fat	22.7 g	2 g
Saturated Fat	2.0 g	0.5 g
Transfat	0 g
Polyunsat Fat	4.1 g
Monounsat Fat	16 g
Cholesterol	6.5 mg	20 mg
Carbohydrates	37.9 g	19 g
Dietary Fiber	3.0 g	< 1 g
Sugars	8.4 g	4 g
Glycerine	2.6 g
L-Carnitine	63 mg
Taurine	38 mg
Water	172 g
Calories	425	160

Vitamins	DV*	Nepro	Ensure High Protein
Vitamin A	5,000 IU	750 IU	30% (1,500 IU)
Vitamin D	400 IU	20 IU	120% (480 IU)
Vitamin E	30 IU	23 IU	90% (27 IU)
Vitamin K	80 mcg	20 mcg	30% (24 mcg)
Vitamin C	60 mg	25 mg	100% (60 mg)
Folate/Folic Acid	400 mcg	250 mcg	60% (240 mcg)
Vitamin B1	1.5 mg	0.56 mg	30% (0.45 mg)
Vitamin B2	1.7 mg	0.64 mg	30% (0.51 mg)
Vitamin B6	2 mg	2.0 mg	30% (0.6 mg)
Vitamin B12	6 mcg	2.3 mcg	30% (1.8 mcg)
Niacin	20 mg	7.5 mg	30% (6 mg)
Choline		150 mcg
Biotin	300 mcg	120 mcg	30% (90 mcg)
Pantothenic Acid	10 mg	3.8 mg	30% (3 mcg)

Minerals	DV*	Nepro	Ensure High Protein
Sodium	2,400 mg	250 mg	135 mg
Potassium	3,500 mg	250 mg	170 mg
Chloride	3,400 mg	200 mg
Calcium	1,000 mg	250 mg	30% (300 mg)
Phosphorus	1,000 mg	170 mg	25% (250 mg)
Magnesium	400 mg	50 mg	15% (60 mg)
Iodine	150 mcg	38 mcg	25% (38 mcg)
Manganese	2 mg	0.5 mg	20% (0.4 mg)
Copper	2 mg	0.5 mg
Zinc	15 mg	6.4 mg	35% (5.3 mg)
Iron	18 mg	4.5 mg	40% (7.2 mg)
Selenium	70 mcg	18 mcg	30% (21 mcg)
Chromium	120 mcg	30 mcg	40% (48 mcg)
Molybdenum	75 mcg	19 mcg	40% (30 mcg)

I always wanted to do this comparison since Ensure’s nutrition label has a lot of items listed with %DV instead of the actual amount. If you look at the lab result scorecard from dialysis, it only lists three minerals: potassium, phosphorus, and calcium. Ensure has slightly lower potassium and slightly higher phosphorus and calcium. The other major differences seems to be Nepro has a lot more calories/fat/carbs vs. Ensure, and slightly less cholesterol. All the other nutrition items seem to be similar between the two drinks. I also noticed that I take a 2,000 IU capsule of Vitamin D3 each day when DV is only 400 IU, and my Vitamin D lab results are still low.

I’m tired of “Mixed Berry” since it’s the only Nepro flavor I have; the other two flavors are even more gross. After an hour of typing and calculating DV, I think I’m going to drink a chocolate vanilla Ensure High Protein instead of Nepro.