Frequently Asked Questions
Ingredient Questions Answered
- Why do people prefer the Medical Vita Diet?
- Why does MVD use natural sugars in their shakes?
- Why natural sugars?
- Can Nutrition Panels be misleading?
- Why not use artificial sweeteners?
- Whey and Casein
- How does the MVD compare with other competitor shakes?
How much sugar does the Medical Vita Diet shakes really have?
First of all remember that the sachets are mixed with 200 to 250 mls of water which dilutes the sugar content considerably.
We think of sugar as a sweet substance, deriving from sugar cane, added to tea, coffee etc.
The Medical Vita Diet sachet contains about 4- 5 gms of sweet sugar or about one level teaspoon added to the milkshakes to give them a natural taste. (It is quite obvious by tasting the shakes that there is no more than one small teaspoon of sugar in the shake.)
Lactose is a low GI carbohydrate which makes up nearly half the composition of the milk powder.
Lactose is the foundation of life – it is the first carbohydrate babies use in their first few months. Because it is a carbohydrate that converts to energy, it is classed as a sugar, even though it is non sweet
According to feedback from dieters, the small teaspoon of sugar in the nutrient enriched milkshake helps stop sugar cravings.
Also if the supplement is not palatable, people will not readily drink it, thus depriving them of the proteins, vitamins, minerals and carbohydrates needed to balance the diet.
The taste is nicer than those drinks containing artificial sweeteners.
The inclusion of measured carbohydrate also promotes moderate ketosis and keeps blood sugar levels steady. Apart from the sachets, sugar is not allowed in the eating program
Can Nutrition Panels be misleading
Most milk based supplement or meal replacement shakes on the market have similar amounts of sugar. Those with a low sugar content usually contain controversial artificial sweeteners. Others require mixing with 200 -250 ml of milk, which is misleading as this masks the amount of extra sugar in the sachet as milk solids contain nearly 50 % lactose or sugar!!
The Medical Vita Diet nutrition panel states the correct amount of sugar and recommends you mix with water only.
Why not use artificial sweeteners?
A lot of controversy surrounds the use of artificial sweeteners in foods. Apart from research pointing to cancer links, the latest research has shown that artificial sweeteners can make people put on weight because the sweet taste prepares the body for a large calorie intake.
“When this did not arrive the body demanded more food or burned less energy, which resulted in weight gain”
Behavioural Neuroscience Journal as quoted in The Courier Mail (12th February, 2008)
When whey protein is taken on an empty stomach, it is not used efficiently because it is absorbed too quickly. Although whey does promote protein synthesis, a huge portion of its amino acid content is used for energy instead of building muscle.
Casein, unlike whey, is digested slowly with no wasting of its amino acids. Combining casein with whey slows the digestion of whey, thereby protecting the latter’s amino acids and helping to maximise their use in muscle protein synthesis. A clinical study which compared the effects of whey and casein in terms of fat mass loss, lean mass gain and strength performance found that casein was far superior in all results. ‘The casein group lost more than double the amount of body fat, gained double the
amount of lean muscle and performed twice as successfully in the strength testing.
” R.H. Demling, L.De Sant, (2000) Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism (44:1: 21-29)."
The best form of supplementation therefore contains largely casein with a smaller addition of whey, which, unsurprisingly, is the natural composition of milk solids.
Each Medical Vita Diet sachet is nutritionally balanced with largely casein and a lesser amount of whey proteins.
