I'll take that. Dr. Lamarche might want to add more later.
As a dietitian, products like Ensure, Boost, and other similar products—Glucerna—have been pretty much reserved for people who are unable to eat whole foods. In the past, they were reserved for individuals who were just not well enough to consume whole foods on a regular basis. They were supplementary calories or a meal replacement for somebody who is elderly and unable to consume whole food. In recent years, they've taken on a whole new direction, with the understanding, or misunderstanding, that it's just as good as having a whole food breakfast or a whole food snack. I certainly would not suggest that it's a great alternative.
I'm guilty as charged. Once in a while, if I don't have time to plan something for breakfast, I'll grab one and go. I think that's fine. It's when these things become the norm, that's absolutely not recommended.
Certainly when you look at food, it is more than just a bunch of nutrients. It's a bunch of nutrients put together in some kind of cohesive format. When you isolate those nutrients and put them in a beverage—amino acids, various carbohydrates, whatever it is—you're losing something. If a whole food is healthy—the sum of its parts—and you take it out and you put into a liquid, is it still healthy? I don't think we have evidence to prove that it is as healthy.
I think we've seen various scientific research that has showed us that when you pull something out of the food and you give it in a capsule.... Is it going to have the same health outcomes? No, because that something was part of a bigger something, and it's all those things working together that make it a healthy food.