Updated July 28, 2021
Glucerna is a popular brand for diabetics, offering a selection of shakes and snacks to minimize blood sugar spikes. While there are plenty of Glucerna shakes reviews out there, most look at the shakes on their own.
We’re doing things a little differently with this review. We’re taking a look at what other people have to say about the shakes, along with how they compare to other brands.
Glucerna Products
Glucerna products are specifically made for people with type 2 diabetes. As part of this, the items are designed to decrease the rate of carbohydrate release. Doing so should help to decrease blood sugar spikes – a critical outcome for people with diabetes.
Glucerna offers fewer products than brands like Boost and Ensure.
- Glucerna Shake. The original shake from Glucerna, available in a range of flavors.
- Glucerna Hunger SmartShake. A higher protein shake, with 15 grams of protein per serving.
- Glucerna Hunger Smart Meal Size Shake. Follows a similar style to the previous shake, except that it contains 23 grams of protein and designed to replace a meal.
- Glucerna Hunger Smart Powder. A ready-to-mix protein powder that you can use to make protein shakes. Each serving contains 22 grams of protein and just 2 grams of sugar.
- Glucerna 30g Protein Shake. This is a new product that, as the name suggests, offers 30 grams of protein per serving. It’s also low in sugar, with just 3 grams of sugar per serving.
- Glucerna Snack. A small shake containing 7 grams of protein and 5 grams of sugar. Designed as a snack, rather than as a meal replacement.
- Glucerna Snack Bars. These snack bars contain 11 grams of protein each and 4 grams of sugar, along with various nutrients.
- Glucerna Mini Treats. These are small snack bars, containing just 80 calories each. They have 3 grams of sugar and 3 grams of protein per serving.
There was also a shake called Glucerna Advance, but this was discontinued in 2018.
We’re focusing on the shakes for this post, so let’s take a close look at how they compare.
Glucerna Snack Shake
- 140 calories
- Protein: 7 grams
- Fat: 5 grams
- Fiber: 3 grams
- Sugars: 5 grams
- Flavors: Rich Chocolate, and Homemade Vanilla
These shakes are best seen as a snack, as they’re low in protein. The high sugar content is a little concerning as well.
Glucerna Shakes
- 180 calories
- Protein: 10 grams
- Fat: 9 grams
- Fiber: 4 grams
- Sugars: 4 grams
- Flavors: Rich Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla, Creamy Strawberry, Classic Butter Pecan, and Chocolate Caramel (some nutritional information varies depending on the flavor)
Like most Glucerna products, this shake includes CARBSTEADY. CARBSTEADY is a Glucerna-specific blend of carbohydrates. These are released slowly, with the goal of helping to manage blood sugar spikes. You’ll see them in most of the Glucerna products.
Glucerna Hunger Smart
- 180 calories
- Protein: 15 grams
- Fat: 8 grams
- Fiber: 6 grams
- Sugars: 6 grams
- Flavors: Rich Chocolate, Homemade Vanilla & Creamy Strawberry
This shake offers more protein than the original Glucerna shake, which should make it more filling too. Unfortunately, the sugar content increases as well.
Glucerna Hunger Smart Meal Size
- 250 calories
- Protein: 23 grams
- Fat: 11 grams
- Fiber: 7 grams
- Sugars: 8 grams
- Flavors: Rich Chocolate and Homemade Vanilla
This Hunger Smart shake takes things one step further, offering an impressive 23 grams of protein per serving. There are 8 grams of sugar this time, which is only slightly more than the previous option.
Glucerna 30g Protein Shake
- 150 calories
- Protein: 30 grams
- Fat: 1.5 grams
- Fiber: 4 grams
- Sugars: 3 grams
- Flavors: Rich Chocolate and Homemade Vanilla
This shake isn’t just higher in protein than the other options. It also takes a different approach. In particular, it keeps the sugar and fat content low, making this a useful shake for weight loss.
Glucerna Shakes Reviews
Reviews for Glucerna are generally positive. The original shake averages around 4.8 stars on Amazon, with close to 3,000 ratings. The Hunger Smart version is even more impressive, with more than 7,000 ratings and a similar star average.
Positive aspects from reviews include:
- Appealing flavor
- Is filling for a few hours
- Tastes like a treat
- Good cold or at room temperature
- Prevents blood sugar spikes
Negative aspects include:
- Shakes only fill you for 2-3 hours, which isn’t enough for a meal replacement shake (however, the higher protein shakes may be more effective at this than the basic Glucerna shake)
- Slight eggy aftertaste from the protein
- Packaging makes the shakes difficult to open
- Can lead to flatulence
Personal Glucerna Review
The concept of Glucerna shakes is appealing. I like how diabetics can be confident about the entire product range.
The limited number of items is also appealing. Brands like Boost and Ensure can get a bit overwhelming, as they have so many different products to choose from. Glucerna only has a handful and the differences between them are easy to spot.
Glucerna Nutrition
I’m not particularly impressed with the nutrition of Glucerna shakes. The regular version has 10 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugars, while the Hunger Smart has 15 grams of protein and 6 grams of sugars.
In both cases, the sugar content is higher than I’d expect, especially as the shakes are recommended as meal replacements or snacks.
The protein content is also pretty low, especially for the original version. This would mean that the shakes aren’t very filling.
The 30g Protein shake is more impressive, especially as it keeps the sugar and fat content low too. This one could be useful for weight loss, although it does rely on artificial sweeteners.
Features of Glucerna
The marketing for Glucerna focuses on CARBSTEADY, which is promoted as such:
The idea sounds appealing and has been adapted from two research studies. Glucerna even includes a graph to show blood sugar impacts.
This idea works well, but it is slightly misleading. In particular,
Overall Perspectives
Glucerna’s marketing compares the products to snacks like muffins, pretzels and candy bars. They’re right. The shakes are much better than those options.
Even so, they’re not amazing. There are many meal replacement/snack shakes on the market now. Some of them have a better nutritional profile, with more protein and/or less sugar.
The only unusual thing that Glucerna offers is the CARBSTEADY. This may mean that carbs are released slower, but the difference isn’t clear.
Personally, I’d recommend a shake that is lower in sugar. A shake like that is likely to be better for health and blood sugar than the Glucerna shakes.
Still, Glucerna isn’t horrible either. There are better shakes out there and worse ones. This brand would be a viable choice in many situations.
Glucerna vs Boost and Ensure
Boost and Ensure are two other popular meal shake brands. We’ve even compared the various Boost and Ensure products in another post.
The biggest difference between the brands is that Glucerna is designed for diabetics, while Boost and Ensure are not. In fact, Boost and Ensure both have many high sugar products.
On the other hand, both companies have many different products. Their ranges include some low sugar options. For example, Boost has a Glucose Control drink that contains 16 grams of protein and just 4 grams of sugar per serving. They also have a Calorie Smart product. This is less common, but it does have a similar balance of nutrients.
Ensure doesn’t have a diabetes-specific product, but they do have some that are low in sugars. In fact, their Ensure Light Nutrition Shake contains 0 grams of sugar.
There is also an Ensure Max Protein Shake. This version has one gram of sugar. The biggest difference is protein content, as the Max Protein Shake has 30 grams of protein. This will be more than most seniors need. The high protein and low sugar content also means that the Max Protein Shake doesn’t taste as good as other types.
These products mean that you don’t have to stick with Glucerna. You can choose another brand. Just make sure that the nutritional composition is going to meet your needs.
Are Meal Replacement Shakes Worth It?
Glucerna, Boost and Ensure are just three brands that offer protein shakes. Some of their products are designed to replace meals, while others offer extra nutrition.
But, why bother?
There can be little doubt that relying on homemade food with natural ingredients is a healthier choice. Pre-prepared shakes are normally designed to be shelf stable, so they contain some additives and artificial ingredients.
Even so, shakes have their place.
- They often contain extra nutrients. This style can improve nutrient intake, especially for seniors who do not want to eat regularly.
- They taste good. While opinions about taste always vary, many people do enjoy the taste of the shakes. For example, some of the products from Boost, Ensure and Glucerna taste like flavored milk. This style makes it much easier to get seniors to eat the food.
- There is no chewing involved. Shakes are a good alternative to soft food. They’re easy to consume, even for people who face eating challenges.
- They’re fast and easy. Caregivers are often short on time. There are many situations where an easy solution to food is needed and protein shakes are one such solution.
- They’re portable. Shakes from companies like Glucerna don’t need to be stored in the fridge. This means you can slip a bottle in your bag and keep it on you. Doing so helps to keep you prepared.
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