Is Horlicks good for weight loss?
Many numbers of us have encountered the mitigating taste of Horlicks malted milk however relatively few of us know whether Horlicks is good for you. It contains a few nutrients and minerals yet does that make it a healthy drink?
Beneath, we will attempt to address whether or not Horlicks is good or awful for you, unequivocally.
What are the Ingredients in Horlicks?
The ingredients used in Horlicks differ slightly depending on whether you are drinking the Original, Instant, Chocolate or Vegan version.
There are some ingredients that all kinds of Horlicks share. These include:
- Wheat flour and malted wheat (except in vegan Horlicks, where they don’t use malted wheat)
- Malted Barley (With 75% in the vegan blend and only 13% in the chocolate flavor).
- Dried whey and dried skimmed milk (not in the vegan mix).
- Salt and sugar
- A mix of vitamins
- Anti-Caking Agent (E551) is present in all but the vegan flavor
- Ferric Pyrophosphate – used as an iron supplement
- Zinc Oxide – approved by the FDA for use in food as an essential trace mineral responsible for metabolic reactions
- Palm Oil
Each type of Horlicks contains an added mix of vitamins and minerals. It includes:
- Vitamin C: which we need to maintain healthy cells, skin vessels, bones, and cartilage.
- Niacin (Vitamin B3): lowers LDL cholesterol and helps convert food into energy
- Vitamin E: is needed to keep your skin and eyes healthy.
- Pantothenic Acid: helps turn food into energy.
- Vitamin B6: helps the body to use and store energy from protein and carbohydrates in food.
- Riboflavin: helps the body convert carbs into glucose.
- Thiamine: turns food into energy and protects the nervous system.
- Folic Acid: helps the body make healthy red blood cells.
- Biotin (B7): helps you form fatty acids and glucose.
- Vitamin D: regulates the amount of calcium and phosphate in your body.
- Vitamin B12: is needed to make red blood cells and keep the nervous system healthy.
The chocolate version of Horlicks contains 6.6% fat-reduced cocoa powder. It also contains dried glucose syrup, which sweetens the cocoa to give it that chocolatey taste. Every version of Horlicks except the original uses stabilizers like Guar Gum. The chocolate and vegan flavors use emulsifiers to give a smooth consistency. Ingredients in Horlicks that you ought to be concerned about are sugar and palm oil.
Palm oil is one of the biggest drivers behind deforestation and harvesting it is making several species endangered. Palm oil is also 34% saturated fat, twice as much as olive oil so it’s not very healthy.
Horlicks Nutritional Information
Horlicks have different nutritional values per type of drink offered. When choosing the original flavor, the drink is made with milk instead of hot water. The portion size is 25g for this type, and 32g for the instant and chocolate types.
The original version of Horlicks has 4 g of fat per 25g serving with milk, whereas the instant and chocolate versions have 0.6g and 1.8g of fat. Vegan Horlicks contains only 0.5g fat per 25g serving, without water or milk.
Horlicks Sugar Content
Horlicks is high in sugar, with the most sugar found in the original flavor. Some of this sugar comes from lactose which is a natural sugar found in milk, however, most of the sugar is added. Original Horlicks has 19.2g of sugars per 25g serving with milk, while Instant has 14.8g of sugars (32g serving with hot water). Chocolate flavor has 15.4g of sugars per 32g mixed with hot water.
The recommended daily allowance of added sugar is 30g per adult. 30 g of sugar is 7.5 teaspoons, if one teaspoon is 4g. This means original Horlicks has almost 5 teaspoons of sugar. That’s a large amount of your daily allowance in just one drink.
Calories in Horlicks
Original Horlicks is the highest in calories since it is made with milk. One serving made with semi-skimmed milk contains 182 calories. By comparison, a cup of tea with 30 ml of milk and two teaspoons of sugar is only around 37 calories. Instant Horlicks has 115 calories and chocolate Horlicks have 119 calories per serving.
Do Horlicks have any health benefits?
The vitamin and mineral mix added to Horlicks has several benefits for health. B vitamins are essential for healthy skin and the nervous system. They also help to convert food into energy and create new blood cells. Vitamin C has a role to protect cells and keeping them healthy. It also helps maintain healthy skin, blood vessels, bones, and cartilage. Vitamin E helps to strengthen your immune system and maintain healthy skin and eyes. Vitamin D is also important for the immune system but it’s also essential for the regulation of calcium in the body.
Although Horlicks contains several beneficial vitamins and minerals, it is not a healthy drink since it contains too much sugar which is associated with weight gain and diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.
Conclusion
Is Horlicks good in weight loss? From the time you started drinking Horlicks, don’t have sugar cravings, and felt energized and satisfied. It is also your favorite bedtime drink: makes you calm, fill and sleep through the night! Having it without sugar makes it perfect for your lean diet- it helps you stay slim.