Comparing Fresubin / Diben with Resource, Ensure, Glucerna of Nestle, Abbott

Many elderly or outpatients will like to find out information about various nutritious milk feeds and meal replacement drinks. They will like to know which is suitable for them and compare their pricing and value for money.

There are a few major brands of milk feed in Singapore such as:-

• Abbott, such as Ensure, Glucerna, Jevity, Pulmocare, etc
• Nestles, such as Resource, Nutren Diabetes, Novasource, Isocal Optimum, etc
• Fresunius Kabi, such as Fresubin, Diben etc
• Nutricia, such as fortijuce, Fortisip
• Valens, such as Myotein, Thixer or Carborie

Substitute of various milk brands Ensure, Glucerna, Optimum, Resource, Fortijuce by Abbott, Nestle, Nutricia, Valens

Most milk drinks have a decent substitute for another brand, so you can definitely check with your dietician or doctor to see if you are able to switch to another brand for better cost-saving or better nutrient needs for your body.

The nutrient information here is widely available from the bottles or packet labeling or via online sourcing. Do check with your nutritionist if you are able to switch, especially when sometime a specific milk product is unavailable or out-of-stock in Singapore.

Here is some comparison of Fresubin drinks versus other more established and reputed brands and milk products in Singapore:-

• Fresubin 2kcal vs Resources 2.0 vs Ensure TwoCal HN
• Fresubin Protein Energy vs Resource Protein vs Ensure Plus vs Fortisip
• Diben vs Nutren Diabetes vs Glucerna Liquid vs Glucerna Triple Care vs Glucerna 1.5kcal
• Supportan vs Prosure
• Fresubin Renal vs Nepro LP
• Fresubin Jucy vs Resource Fruit vs Fortijuce
• Fresubin Powder vs Ensure Life vs Boost Optimum

Please note that these are all public information based on general knowledge, so please do consult a medical professional if you need to clarify substituting your milk feed.

Fresubin 2kcal Drink vs Resources 2.0 vs Ensure TwoCal HN

These 3 drinks, Fresubin 2kcal Drink, Resources 2.0 and Ensure TwoCal HN can be substituted for one another for some users, let us compare them.

What are fresubin 2kcal, Resource 2.0 or Ensure TwoCal HN used for?

Fresubin 2kcal, Resoruce 2.0 and Ensure TwoCal HN are suitable for patients who has extra increased energy and protein needs and/ or in need of fluid restriction. Some of these users are:-

• Elderly 
• Patients with malnutrition
• Post-surgery recovery
• Poor wound healing
• Fluid restrictions
• COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)

Among these drinks, Fresubin 2Kcal has the higher protein content for 2kcal/ml nutrition feeds.

• High energy (400 kcal)
• High in protein (20g)
• Low in cholesterol
• High in Vitamin D (5 g)
• Fibre free

Resources 2.0 has the lowest carbohydrates compared to the other drinks Fresubin 2kcal and Ensure TwoCal HN.

Fresubin Protein Energy vs Resource Protein vs Ensure Plus vs Fortisip

These 4 drinks, Fresubin Protein Energy, Resource Protein, Ensure Plus, and Fortisip can be substituted for one another for some users, we will try and compare them.

What are Fresubin protein energy, Resource Protein or Ensure Plus used for?

Fresubin Protein Energy, Resource Protein or Ensure Plus are suitable for patients who have extra increased energy and protein needs and/ or are in need of fluid restriction. Some of these users are:-

• Elderly senior citizens
• Cancer patients
• Sufferers of Malnutrition
• Post-surgery recovery
• Poor wound healing

Fresubin Protein Energy has the higher protein content for 1.5kcal/ml nutrition feeds

• High energy (300 kcal)
• High in protein (20g)
• Low in cholesterol
• Fibre free

Diben vs Nutren Diabetes vs Glucerna Liquid vs Glucerna Triple Care vs Glucerna 1.5kcal

These 5 drinks, Diben, Nutren Diabetes, Glucerna Liquid, Glucerna Triple Care, and Glucerna 1.5kcal can be substituted for one another for some users, we will compare them here.

What are Diben drink, Glucerna, Nutren Diabetes used for?

Diben, Glucerna or Nutren diabetes are meant for patients with or at risk of malnutrition with impaired glucose metabolism such as those suffering from diabetes or pre-diabetes.

Diben is one of the higher energy and protein nutrition feed for people with diabetes.

• Low GI (Glycaemic Index)
• High energy (300 kcal)
• High in protein (15g)
• Contains Omega 3

Comparison of Supportan vs Prosure

These two drinks, Supportan by Fresenius Kabi and Prosure can be substituted for one another for some patients, we will compare these two drinks here. Prosure for weight gain by patients is a product by Abbott.

What are Supportan drink / Prosure used for?

Supportan or Prosure helps with the special needs of cancer patients that require life support in oncology. You can see the comparison versus chart for Prosure and Supportan here:-

Supportan drink has higher energy, protein, and lipid content for cancer-specific milk feed. It also contains more Omega 3- EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA, and MCT.

• Contains Omega 3 – EPA Eicosapentaenoic acid
• High energy (300 kcal)
• High in protein (20g)
• Contains fibre

Comparsion of Fresubin Renal vs Nepro LP

These two drinks, Fresubin Renal by Fresenius Kabi and Nepro LP by Abbott can be substituted for one another for some patients, we will compare these two drinks here.

Do note that Fresubin Renal is no substitute for Nepro HP.

What are Fresubin Renal / Nepro LP for?

Fresubin Renal or Nepro LP is for patients with chronic kidney disease with or at risk of malnutrition (pre-dialysis).

Fresubin Renal is higher in energy, and lower in protein and key electrolytes for pre-dialysis chronic kidney disease patients.

• High energy (400 kcal)
• Reduced protein (6g)
• Contains fibre 
• Contains Omega 3

The substitute for Nepro HP is Novasource Renal.

Comparison of Fresubin Jucy vs Resource Fruit vs Fortijuce

These 3 fruity, non-dairy drinks, Fresubin Jucy, Resource Fruit, and Fortijuce can be substituted for one another for some patients, we will compare these 3 drinks in this section.

What are Jucy, Resource Fruit, and Fortijuce for?

These are high calories oral nutritional supplements suitable for patients with increased energy requirements and unable to have fats in their diets, due to

• Fat malabsorption
• Perioperative recovery

Fresubin Jucy is a high-energy and fat-free nutrition feed.

• High energy (300 kcal)
• High-quality protein
• Fat-free
• Fibre free

Ensure Life vs Boost Optimum vs Fresubin Powder

These 3 milk powder supplements, Ensure Life, Boost Optimum and Fresubin powder may be substituted for one another for some patients, we will compare these 3 powdered milk in this section.

What are Ensure Life, Boost Optimum, and Fresubin powder used for?

These are milk powder supplements for adults or the elderly, to improve their daily nutrition. You can mix a different amounts of drinks daily (1.0 to 1.5 kcal/ml) for the dietary management of patients with or at risk of malnutrition

• Unable to meet their energy requirement by normal food intake
• Have moderate to high energy needs

Fresubin Powder is suitable for vegetarians, low in saturated fat, and trans-fat free. It can be prepared to different caloric density (1kcal/ml or 1.5kcal/ml).  Boost Optimum has the highest protein level followed by Ensure Life.

Fresubin Powder has:-

• High energy (1.5 kcal)
• High-quality protein 
• High in Vitamin D
• Low in cholesterol, saturated fat 
• Trans-fat free
• Contains omega 3 & 6

Where do I buy Fresubin, Diben, Resource, Ensure, Nestle or Abbott products?

These milk products or meal supplements are available in major supermarkets (NTUC FairPrice, Giant, Cold Storage, Sheng Shiong, etc.) or major pharmacies (Watson, Guardian, etc.), polyclinics hospitals, etc.

You can also buy online from established elder care websites such as seniorcare.com.sg, you can search for the product you want at the search bar at the top of this site or click on the products that interest you in these articles.

Buying online gets you these bulky items delivered to your doorstep with free delivery.