Sustagen Pros and Cons: 13.8g Protein, 27g Sugars and What a Serve Costs

Sustagen's pros and cons are both printed on its own label. Hospital Formula publishes 13.8g of protein, 225 calories and 400mg of calcium in a 60g serve, next to 27g of sugars and no dietary fibre row (retrieved 29 September 2026). Which of those counts for you depends on which Sustagen you are holding and why you are buying it.

The results for this exact search are mostly social posts and offshore retailer listings, and neither tells you what a serve carries. Buyers in a pharmacy aisle, and carers buying for a parent, need the numbers, the price and the brand's own words about who each product is for.

This page reads Sustagen's published panels, the price of a serve at Australian retailers on the day, and Ensure's panel beside them.

Which Sustagen are you buying?

Sustagen is not one product. Nestlé Health Science publishes six on its Australian site, and its footer gives each a category statement (range read 29 September 2026):

• Hospital Formula and Hospital Formula Plus Fibre: "a formulated meal replacement and cannot be used as a total diet replacement".
• Everyday and Ready to Drink: "Formulated Supplementary Foods which can be of assistance where dietary intakes of nutrients and energy may not be adequate".
• OPTIMUM: "a Food for Special Medical Purpose", with the instruction "Must be used under the supervision of a healthcare professional".
• Sport: "a Formulated Supplementary Sports Food which must be consumed in conjunction with a nutritious diet, not as a sole source of nutrition".

The five panels read on the day are below, all Vanilla versions. The health read of the flagship tin is in is Sustagen good for you; this page is the buying decision.

Figures are Sustagen's published nutrition information, panel images read 29 September 2026. Each flavour has its own panel and brands reformulate, so check current labels before purchase.

How does HLTH+ compare with Sustagen?

HLTH+ is a Formulated Supplementary Food, the category Sustagen also uses for Everyday and Ready to Drink, and one 55g Women's sachet carries 30g protein, 7g dietary fibre and 30 essential daily nutrients at RRP $6.00. Over 90% of Australian adults do not meet dietary guidelines (AIHW), which is the gap a daily nutritional formula is designed for. The ✦ Find My Formula quiz shows what your current routine is not giving you: take the 30-second quiz.

What are the benefits of drinking Sustagen?

Every benefit below is a figure or a sentence Sustagen publishes itself.

• Protein is printed on every panel read. Hospital Formula and Plus Fibre print 13.8g per serve, Sport 15g and Ready to Drink 12.5g. Schedule 4 of the Food Standards Code sets 10g of protein per serve for a "good source", and each of those clears it (Schedule 4).
• The micronutrient breadth is claimed and itemised. Hospital Formula claims "27 essential vitamins and minerals" and prints calcium at 400mg a serve; Everyday claims 14, Ready to Drink 16 and Sport 17.
• The range has a dietary fibre row. Plus Fibre prints 4.1g a serve, and Schedule 4 sets 4g per serve for a "good source" of dietary fibre.
• Gluten is stated. The Hospital Formula panel prints "Nil Detected", and the Hospital Formula, Plus Fibre and Ready to Drink pages say gluten free; is Sustagen gluten free goes formula by formula.

What are the disadvantages of Sustagen?

Each item is a printed fact, and most are the flip side of what the product is built to do.

The sugars

Hospital Formula prints 27g of sugars inside 39g of carbohydrate per serve, Sport prints 34.8g and Ready to Drink 23.8g per carton. The Vanilla ingredient list opens with Non Fat Milk Solids (63%), Corn Syrup Solids, Whole Milk Powder and Sugar. Sustagen vs Up and Go sets Everyday against a liquid breakfast.

The dietary fibre row

Only Plus Fibre carries one, at 4.1g; the other four panels above have none. OPTIMUM's ingredient list names fructo-oligosaccharides and inulin as fibres, but its panel was not read, so no figure is printed.

Milk, soy and what the drink depends on

Every Sustagen lists milk. Everyday, Ready to Drink and OPTIMUM list soy under Contains, and Hospital Formula and Plus Fibre print "May contain soy".

Everyday's 9.5g of protein depends on the 175mL of reduced fat milk you supply, because the powder carries 3g. OPTIMUM's ingredient list also names a sweetener, Acesulfame Potassium.

Is Sustagen worth it? What a serve costs

Sustagen's site has a buy button and no price, so the cost of a serve comes from retailers. Prices below are listings read on 29 September 2026. Woolworths and Chemist Warehouse pages did not load in our check, so neither is quoted, and Sustagen alternatives covers the other routes people take.

Worth is cost set against what a serve carries. Hospital Formula's 14 serves carry 193.2g of protein (14 multiplied by 13.8g), so $27.81 to $29.99 is 14.4 to 15.5 cents a gram. Ensure's 15.8 serves carry 135.9g (15.8 multiplied by 8.6g), so $45.29 is 33.3 cents a gram.

Sustagen, Ensure and HLTH+, label to label

The second column is Abbott's own published panel for Ensure Powder, read the same day, and Sustagen vs Ensure reads the two tins line by line. The third column is HLTH+ Women's, from HLTH+'s published figures.

Figures are each brand's published nutrition information, read 29 September 2026. Panels vary by flavour and brands reformulate, so check current labels before purchase. Price per gram of protein for the two tins is worked above: 14.4 to 15.5 cents for Hospital Formula and 33.3 cents for Ensure.

A hospital formula or a Food for Special Medical Purposes is a clinician's call, and HLTH+ is not a substitute for it.

Learn more about what changes nutritionally when overall intake drops.

Who should not drink Sustagen?

Sustagen answers this itself, in its own words (read 29 September 2026):

• Children: the Hospital Formula page says "Consuming as a meal replacement option may not be suitable for children. Seek advice from a healthcare professional".
• Sport: the sentences after the Sport statement in the site footer read "Not suitable for children under 15 years of age or pregnant women. Should only be used under medical or dietetic supervision."
• OPTIMUM: "Must be used under the supervision of a healthcare professional."
• Milk allergy: every Sustagen lists milk, so read the allergen line on the pack.
• Everyone: "Nutritional supplements can only be of assistance where dietary intake is inadequate. Please seek advice on your individual needs from an Accredited Practicing Dietitian or your healthcare professional."

This page is general information, not medical advice. Decisions about a prescribed nutrition product, or about any medication, belong with your doctor or Accredited Practising Dietitian.

What is the best time to drink Sustagen?

Sustagen's pages name occasions, not a schedule. Hospital Formula says "Set up your day with a nutritionally complete, high protein boost", Ready to Drink is "Perfect to drink with breakfast or as an afternoon energy and nutrition boost", and Sport says "Fuel your body before, during, or after exercise".

The directions publish a serve and a method and no daily number of serves, so how often is a question for the dietitian or doctor who recommended it. Its directions say prepared products should be consumed within 4 hours at room temperature or 24 hours if refrigerated.

What should a carer check on the label?

Around 50% of older Australians in aged care and in the community are either at risk of malnutrition or are malnourished (Dietitians Australia). When appetite is reduced, four label lines do most of the work:

• Protein per serve, and whether it depends on milk you add.
• A dietary fibre row, which four of the five Sustagen panels above do not have.
• Sugars per serve, against the calories the serve delivers.
• Serve size and the category statement, including "under the supervision of a healthcare professional" where the brand prints it.

The older-adult version of this question is in Sustagen for elderly Australians, and the choice of product belongs with the person's doctor or dietitian.

Which Sustagen, or which alternative, suits which buyer?

• The lower cost per gram of protein of the two tins in the label table: Sustagen Hospital Formula, 13.8g a serve at $1.99 to $2.14.
• The same powder with a dietary fibre row: Sustagen Hospital Formula Plus Fibre, 4.1g a serve.
• A light top-up stirred into your own milk: Sustagen Everyday, 3g of protein from the powder and 9.5g with 175mL of reduced fat milk.
• A carton with no preparation: Sustagen Ready to Drink, 12.5g of protein per 250mL.
• A dietary fibre row and a lower sugars figure, where a clinician has recommended it: Ensure Powder, 1.01g of dietary fibre and 4.68g of sugars per 100mL.
• Protein, dietary fibre and a balanced multivitamin profile in one sachet: HLTH+, 30g protein and 7g dietary fibre in a 55g Women's sachet.

Counted across protein, dietary fibre, vitamins, minerals, collagen and DHA, each HLTH+ serve carries 30 essential daily nutrients. Women's, Women's 50+, Men's and Men's 50+ are each formulated by Accredited Dietitians to the Nutrient Reference Values, the intakes published in 2006 by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing and the New Zealand Ministry of Health, which set different intakes by age and sex.

It is dairy-free and gluten-free. Allergen line: contains soy. It sells at hlthplus.com at RRP $6.00, or $5.10 a day on a 28-serve subscription at $142.80, with free shipping over $100 and no lock-in, and through Amazon AU and Chemist Warehouse online.

See what your current routine is not giving you. The 30-second ✦ Find My Formula quiz is built to show the gaps your existing tins and bottles leave. Next reads: how much protein a person needs and meal replacement shakes.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Sustagen good for muscle building?

Sustagen's own pages describe Hospital Formula as "High in protein for muscle health" and Sport as "High in protein to support lean muscle mass". The panels print 13.8g of protein per Hospital Formula serve and 15g per Sport serve (retrieved 29 September 2026). How much protein a person needs depends on body weight and activity, so ask a dietitian.

What are the side effects of Sustagen?

The Sustagen pages read on the day publish no side-effects section. They publish allergen statements: every product lists milk, Hospital Formula and Plus Fibre add "May contain soy", and Everyday, Ready to Drink and OPTIMUM list soy under Contains (retrieved 29 September 2026). A reaction to any food or drink is a question for a pharmacist or doctor.

Where can you buy Sustagen in Australia?

Sustagen's own site publishes no price and points buyers to retail partners. On 29 September 2026 Hospital Formula 840g was listed at Discount Chemist at $27.81 and at Chemistworks Pharmacy at $29.99, and Coles listed Everyday powder at $8.40 and Ready to Drink 3-packs at $7.50. Prices change, so check on the day.

Is Sustagen a meal replacement?

Only some of it, on Sustagen's own wording. Its site footer calls Hospital Formula and Plus Fibre "a formulated meal replacement" that "cannot be used as a total diet replacement", and calls Everyday and Ready to Drink "Formulated Supplementary Foods" (retrieved 29 September 2026). Sport and OPTIMUM carry their own statements, so read the footer for your tin.

How much protein is in Sustagen?

It depends on the product. Vanilla panels print 13.8g per 60g serve for Hospital Formula and Plus Fibre, 15g for Sport, 12.5g per 250mL for Ready to Drink, and 3g from the Everyday powder, reaching 9.5g once the directed 175mL of reduced fat milk is added (retrieved 29 September 2026).