Thursday, October 23, 2014

Wyeth's Enercal Plus: Is it Any Good for Your Health?

Wyeth's Enercal Plus: Is it Any Good for Your Health?

Understanding proper nutrition is an essential part of crafting a well-balanced diet. Of course, the best diet should consist of some grain, protein, fruits, and vegetables as recommended by Harvard's Healthy Eating Plate. Unfortunately most of us don't have the luxury of time and resources to plan every meal to make sure we get all the nutrients we need, which is why nutritional supplements and multivitamins are so popular. 

I was recently able to get my hands on one nutritional supplement specially formulated for adults - a can of Wyeth's Enercal Plus. Wyeth describes Enercal Plus as the following:
ENERCAL PLUS is an adult nutritional supplement for health inside and out. It contains Nutri-Life Plus, which contains essential nutrients found in a balanced meal. More than just vitamins, it has whey and soy protein, Calcium and Vitamin D for bone and muscle strength, antioxidants for improved immunity and has 0 grams transfat for a healthy heart.
Wyeth's Enercal Plus is,
  • Made of 100% Vegetable Fat Blend
  • Contains Whey and Soy Protein, Calcium and Vitamin D
  • High in Vitamins A, C, & E
  • Contains Choline, Folic Acid, Vitamins B6 and B12
So based on everything all the information mentioned above, is Enercal Plus any good for your health? 


The short answer is yes, it is certainly good for your health. Enercal Plus is meant to supplement your diet, especially if you don't eat a lot of fruits and vegetables daily. I know a lot of recent studies have concluded that multivitamins are a waste of money because they don't help to lengthen our lives or improve memory. 

I still take multivitamins because I know that I don't always eat fruits or vegetables. A daily dose of multivitamins is still the best way I can avoid any nutrient deficiencies - a very prevalent issue even today. I think you should too!

Here's a table of the amount of nutrition provided by Enercal plus.
Wyeth's Enercal Plus Nutritional Information

A cup of Enercal Plus comes in tasty vanilla flavor. It's very sweet, so I'm guessing it's probably packed with sugar and that doesn't bode well for your health. It's also mixed in a vegetable fat blend, something I don't like with Enercal Plus.

Enercal Plus does help with your health, but I don't think its the best way to supplement your diet. A cup is around 360 calories, which is roughly equivalent to a Tall Starbucks Latte and is not that easy to burn. It's also very expensive, since a pack of Enercal Plus costs around 459.5 pesos for a 400g box in the Philippines, an amount that will yield only five 240ml servings. Think about that, it's almost 92 pesos per cup if you do the math and if you plan to drink Enercal Plus daily it would cost around 2760 pesos per month. You can already buy a carton of fresh milk with one cup, and it's almost a grande cup of Starbucks coffee! 

I recommend that you use that money to buy some fresh fruits (like bananas or apple) and fresh milk instead rather than buy a can of Enercal Plus. Get a good multivitamin like Pfizer's Centrum, which costs around 10 pesos per tablet if you buy it in Watsons or Mercury drug. It can even go as low as 4 pesos per tablet when you buy it in bulk in S&R. 

Here's the nutritional information for a tablet of Centrum.
Centrum Multivitamins nutritional table

As you can see on the table above, a Centrum tablet already provides 100% of most minerals and vitamins that your body needs for the day. It also provides 20% of Calcium, which is one very important nutrient that our body needs. 

Here are a couple of tips on how to eat a more well-balanced diet:
  • Drink at least one glass of milk every day
  • Eat fruits for breakfast! I usually eat 2 bananas ever since I found out that I lack Potassium.
  • Drink a multivitamin tablet everyday if you aren't a vegetable-eater
  • Include quick, easy to cook vegetables in every meals. You might want to try my nutritious Water Spinach (Kangkong) Recipe.
Have you tried Wyeth Enercal Plus? If so, let me know what you think about it in the comments below. If you also have any other nutrition tips, I hope you can share them with everyone as well.

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Cheers, 
Chef Jay

6 comments:

  1. Is Enercal Plus drinks fattening?

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    Replies
    1. Short answer is, yes it is because of the high calorie content.

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    2. hello sir where i can buy enercal please help me im underweight this milk makes me gain weight before now im looking for this milk but its not available now in market here at mercury drugstore or any drugstore and grocery.. 09998796262

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    3. Me too. This milk supplement allowed me to recover my weight before.. pls text me if where can I buy this product.. 09978920002

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    4. does it contain sugar ... where the sweetness come from I feel it a bit too sweet doe

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  2. If my daughter 9 years old, can she drink?

    ReplyDelete