What? A product review not about protein and / or a bar? Shocking indeed. But, we can’t ever forget other aspects of health and nutrition. Okay… we’re doing this one because I found the carton in the Reduced shelf, I don’t have any new protein bars to review today and the next opinion piece still hasn’t bubbled up fully-formed in my head yet. But what the hey.
This product comes in a TetraPak, which makes it a bit different-looking from the other milks. Like you’d bleeding know it was milk straight off anyway; “ProActiv” is in 13mm font, “lower cholesterol” in 5 and “milk” in 2 ½. Hmm, I wonder what market they’re aiming for?
I open it up – yes, it’s got a plastic cap – and struggle with the ring-pull for a moment. Suspect other, more feeble folk may have issues in getting it open. I do, take a sniff. Result; it’s milk (bet you didn’t see that coming). Pour a bit into a glass, give it a taste – I’ll happily admit, it does taste better than ordinary skimmed milk. As in; I could actually drink this neat. It’s a bit sweeter; makes me suspect for a moment perhaps it’s got added sweeteners in it or something.
I tested it in coffee, cereal and oatmeal – and it was fine. In fact slightly improved the taste. This good run had a complete fail on my cup of tea, though; made it taste oily and I tipped the cup down the sink. This means, therefore it’s an instant fail as a product for me, and I won’t ever be buying it again. But should you? Let’s go from the subjective to the objective.
Nutritionally, ProActiv is similar to skimmed milk, with the exception of a relative 6% shift from protein to carbohydrate. Which isn’t really much by anyone’s book; you’d have to be drinking gallons of the stuff on a daily basis for it to matter. Except… the blurb on the side warns you against consuming more than 750ml of this a day. The “why” is interesting.
It’s all about “plant sterols”, the thing which claims to lower cholesterol. Basically, it’s found in vegetable oils such as sunflower, olive etc. The three servings daily give you enough of them to reduce your cholesterol by between 7.5% – 10%. Explains the blurb, at least. And after looking at the ingredients, the oily taste in the tea – the 0.4% “plant sterol esters” which I suspect are a mix of various refined oils.
Normally, I don’t do this with a review, but feel it’s relevant here. Here’s a quote from the European Foods Safety Authority (EFSA) on the subject (emphasis mine);
“Plant sterols have been shown to lower/reduce blood cholesterol. Blood cholesterol lowering may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.”
My second quote; from the NHS website (emphasis again mine);
“…There’s some evidence these ingredients may help reduce the cholesterol in your blood, but there’s no evidence they also reduce your risk of a heart attack or stroke.”
You know what, I basically trust both of these folks on this subject – if nothing else, both of these bodies would like me not to have a heart attack (the second literally has a vested interest in preventing it, as they’d pay for my treatment). A critical reading of every word on the carton reveals they do not mention at any point that their product could reduce my risk of heart attack or stroke. In fact, the “science facts” are almost identical to parts I found on WebMD. Excepting the bits which said similar to above, naturally.
So, let’s recap. It’s a product which is approximately four times more expensive than ordinary milk, is almost identical nutritionally and offers to reduce your cholesterol which might not make one jot of difference on the chances of your heart turning against you.
Screw that. You’d be better off – perhaps including cash-wise – by making sure you consume a decent amount of natural sterols daily and trying to avoid the items high in the saturates anyway. Which you should be doing anyway as a part of a healthy, balanced diet.
Facts:
Full Name: Flora ProActiv Skimmed Cow’s Milk
RRP: £1.45 (500ml)
Available At: Tesco, Sainsbury’s.
Ultimate Owner: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (United States)
Date of Testing: 16th February 2020
As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions – with the exception of the two quotes. I’ve not received anything for this review. Part of my ‘Product Reviews’ series.
Tales From The Minority 