Review: Labrada Lean Body Meal Replacement Powder (MRP)
Labrada brand Lean Body meal replacement powders (MRPs) come in a small variety of flavors (chocolate, vanilla, chocolate peanut butter, and strawberry) and offer all the usual benefits inherent to meal replacements. They're also available in a specially formulated blend for women, called "Lean Body for Her" and a breakfast formula, the "Lean Body Instant Breakfast Shake."
In this review, we'll focus mainly on the "regular" Lean Body shake.
Put the Labrada Lean Body meal replacement powders head to head in a taste test against against the taste leader Myoplex, and yes, these shakes fall a little short. Never fear—they're still pretty tasty. And yes, most people will still enjoy them. To make up for this small short coming...
The Labrada Lean Body shake boasts a pretty decent formula. Protein (of which there is 40 grams per serving) is comprised mostly of whey, soy, and milk proteins.
I was most impressed to see that a packet's 24 gram carbohydrate serving now contains 8 grams of fiber—an almost unheard of amount in a MRP.
Fiber content is important; it slows the release of nutrients and moderates blood sugar levels so that this product has less of an impact on insulin levels.
And that's a good thing.
Back when I first investigated the Lean Body MRPs a few years back, Labrada had avoided low quality sweeteners—there were no corn syrup solids and maltodextrin to be found anywhere in this product. Now I see that corn syrup solids and fructose (a slightly controversial sweetener, but with a moderate glycemic rating) have both been added to the formula. I suspect this is to improve the overall taste of the product. When I tried the shakes, they were certainly tasty, but not as delicious as others I'd tried.
In the face of this, the importance of the elevated amounts of fiber becomes doubly evident. It's not a bad strategy really; add some low quality, high glycemic sweeteners to improve taste and "mouth feel", and boost fiber content to keep blood sugar levels moderated.
I would imagine, therefore, that this newest re-formulation of the Lean Body MRP is significantly more tasty than the version I experimented with.
This revised formula also contains an EFA (essentially fatty acid) blend, but the goodies present in the old version— glutamine, taurine, alpha-keto glutarate—are now gone (although Lean Body still contains glutamine peptides). Whether they were present in a potent enough dose in the old version, I can't recall; if not, removing them makes sense, as these ingredients would only increase the cost of the product while providing little additional benefit.
I recommend mixing these shakes in the blender (they will mix up in a shake cup, but just mix up half the shake at a time to avoid the old "glob on the bottom" phenomenon). The blender works best... these shakes aren't as thick and creamy as Myoplex, and generally need all the help they can get. Due to the high fiber content of these shakes, I suspect they will solidify fairly quickly... so only mix up what you plan to consume immediately.
In general, these shakes represent the higher end (quality wise), of the meal replacement spectrum. As such, rich in protein and high in fiber, they represent a good choice for any weight loss, weight management, or muscle building program.
Labrada protein shake meal replacements are usually available for a couple of dollars less than what it would cost you for EAS' Myoplex meal replacement shakes.
Labrada's Lean Body meal replacement shakes are available online
at the trusted online retailer, BodyBuilding.com.
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