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Ensure Clear: Nutrition, Uses, Benefits, and More

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Ensure is a popular brand of premixed nutrition drinks produced by Abbott.

Ensure Clear is one product in the Ensure lineup that differs from the other Ensure products in that it is considered a clear liquid.

This article explains everything you need to know about Ensure Clear, including how it compares with other Ensure products, what it’s used for, whether it’s good for weight gain, and information on costs and where you can purchase it.

Ensure Clear

What is Ensure Clear?

Ensure Clear is a popular product in the Ensure lineup.

Other popular Ensure products include:

Many of these products are formulated for specific conditions and goals, while others support balanced nutrition.

Unlike the other Ensure products, Ensure Clear is a more of juice rather than a shake.

Here is the nutrition for one 10-ounce (296 mL) bottle of Ensure Clear:

  • Calories: 180
  • Fat: 0 grams
  • Carbs: 37 grams
  • Fiber: 0 grams
  • Protein: 8 grams

Like all Ensure products, Ensure Clear contains milk protein but it provides small amounts of lactose, making it a suitable protein source for people with lactose intolerance.

Each serving provides at least 10% of the daily value (DV) for 15 vitamins and minerals, making it a good source of these nutrients.

Because Ensure Clear is translucent, it is allowed on a clear liquid diet, unlike the other Ensure products.

A clear liquid diet is commonly prescribed as part of a treatment or as a preparation for some procedures.

Ensure Clear comes in two flavors — Blueberry Pomegranate and Mixed Fruit — but you can still find flavors that have been discontinued like Apple, depending on where you shop.

The bottles are reclosable, and you can store them in the refrigerator once opened for up to 48 hours.

Boost Breeze is a similar product to Ensure Clear that is produced by Nestle.

You can read more about the differences between Ensure and Boost here.

Summary

Ensure Clear is one of the many products in the Ensure lineup. However, unlike other Ensure products, Ensure Clear is more of a juice rather than a shake.

What is Ensure Clear used for?

Ensure Clear is primarily used by people who have been prescribed a clear liquid diet.

A clear liquid diet allows translucent liquids only — no milk, ice cream, or semi-solid foods like applesauce or oatmeal.

Examples of clear liquids include (1):

  • tea or coffee with no added milk or cream
  • clear soda
  • sports drinks
  • chicken, beef, and vegetable broths
  • popsicles
  • honey

Doctors and registered dietitians commonly prescribe the diet to patients who are experiencing flare-ups of diverticulitis or pancreatitis.

These conditions cause inflammation and severe pain that can be worsened by eating solid foods due to the effort required by the body to digest and absorb them.

In contrast, the body can easily digest and absorb clear liquids since they are low in fat and consist primarily of easily digestible nutrients.

A clear liquid diet is also commonly recommended as part of the preparation process for a colonoscopy to clean the bowel and allow the doctor to view the intestinal lining without obstruction from food residue.

However, several studies have demonstrated that a low-fiber diet — containing fewer than 10 grams per day — is as effective as a clear liquid diet for ensuring the bowel is empty before the procedure (2, 3).

Still, many doctors continue to recommend a clear liquid diet as part of the colonoscopy prep.

Regardless of why it’s prescribed, the clear liquid diet shouldn’t be followed for more than a few days since it’s nutritionally adequate.

However, with the inclusion of clear liquid protein drinks like Ensure Clear, it’s possible to follow the diet longer — if necessary — since it provides protein, vitamins, and minerals — nutrients that other clear liquids lack.

Because Ensure Clear provides no fat, it’s also ideal for those who are following a low-fat diet or who have fat malabsorption.

Ensure Clear is not intended for IV use or parenteral nutrition or for people with galactosemia, a genetic disorder where the simple sugar galactose can build up in the body and cause harm.

Summary

Ensure Clear is a clear liquid and can therefore be consumed if you have been prescribed a clear liquid diet to manage diverticulitis or pancreatitis or to prepare your bowels for a colonoscopy.

Is Ensure Clear good for weight gain?

Many Ensure products can be great for weight gain since they provide a high number of calories.

To gain weight, you must consistently consume more calories than you need each day. This is known as a calorie surplus.

Drinking Ensure Clear can make it easier to achieve a calorie surplus and gain weight, but there are far better Ensure products for this purpose if you aren’t following a clear liquid diet like Ensure Plus and Ensure Complete.

These products provide 94% more calories (350 calories total) than Ensure Clear and in a smaller serving.

However, you can still increase the calorie content of Ensure Clear by using it as a base to make a homemade smoothie.

You can blend it with frozen or fresh fruit, Greek yogurt, and half and half.

If you need additional ideas, here are several recipes for weight gain shakes and smoothies that you can try.

Summary

Ensure Clear isn’t the best product for weight gain since it contains fewer calories than other Ensure products like Ensure Plus or Complete.

Cost, where to buy, and taste review

You can purchase Ensure Clear on sites like Amazon or in stores that sell health products like grocery stores, retail pharmacies, and big-box stores like Walmart and Target.

Ensure Clear is sold in 4-, 12-, and 24-pack sizes.

A 24-pack of Ensure Clear costs $30 — or $1.25 per serving — on Amazon but the prices will vary depending on where you live and shop.

I picked up a 4 pack of both Ensure Clear flavors at my local grocery store for around $10 or $2.50 per serving.

Both flavors were refreshing, easy to sip on, and didn’t leave a bad aftertaste.

Between Mixed Fruit and Blueberry Pomegranate, my wife and I enjoyed the latter the best.

Ensure Clear is classified as a conventional food rather than a dietary supplement so it is EBT-eligible.

Summary

You can purchase Ensure Clear online and at most stores that sell health products like grocery stores, retail pharmacies, and big-box stores like Walmart and Target. The price of Ensure Clear varies depending on the pack size and where you live and shop.

FAQs

Can you thicken Ensure Clear?

You can thicken Ensure Clear just as you would with any other drink. Thickeners that use gum agents like ThickenUp and Simply Thick are less sensitive to factors like time and temperature that can increase or decrease the thickness of the product.

How many Ensure Clears can you drink a day?

Abbott — the manufacturer of Ensure Clear — doesn’t specify a limit to the number of Ensure Clears you can drink each day, but you cannot rely on the product as a sole source of nutrition since it provides no fat, a necessary nutrient.

Where can you buy Ensure Clear?

You can buy Ensure Clear on sites like Amazon or find it in most supermarkets like Walmart and Target, or retail pharmacies like Walgreens and CVS.

Can you use Ensure Clear before a colonoscopy?

Since Ensure Clear is a clear liquid diet, you can drink it before a colonoscopy.

Can you drink Ensure on a clear liquid diet?

Because Ensure Clear is translucent, you can drink it on a clear liquid diet.

Is Ensure Clear a meal replacement?

Meal replacements generally provide a balanced ratio of protein, carbs, and fats, similar to a typical meal. Because Ensure Clear provides no fat, it doesn’t fit the general description of a meal replacement.

Is Ensure Clear vegan?

Ensure Clear contains milk, making it suitable for vegetarians who include dairy products in their diet but not vegans.

The bottom line

Ensure Clear is a translucent, juice-like nutrition drink.

This means you can drink it if you have to follow a clear liquid diet due to an inflammatory episode of diverticulitis or pancreatitis, in preparation for a colonoscopy, or for a different reason.

Ensure Clear can help you gain weight, but there are other Ensure products like Ensure Plus or Complete that are a much better option since they provide significantly more calories.

You can purchase Ensure Clear from sites like Amazon or from stores and retail pharmacies that sell health products.

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