KANSAS CITY — Companies are brewing up beverages with functional benefits.

Nestle is formulating an oral rehydration solution intended for children under its Gerber brand with Gerberlyte. The beverage is formulated with coconut water, electrolytes and 25% of the daily recommended intake of zinc per 12-oz serving. The beverage is available in flavors such as kiwi, berry blend and tropical punch.

“We heard from parents that they need simple, trusted solutions they can feel confident giving their children, whether they’re managing a stomach bug or replacing fluids after a long day of outdoor play,” said Oscar Benitez, president of Gerber. “For nearly 100 years, we’ve helped parents nourish their little ones, and with Gerberlyte, we’re extending the trusted quality and expertise families know from Gerber to new moments when hydration support matters most.”

Medici Brands, Inc. is unveiling a David Protein branded protein shake. The ready-to-drink beverage is formulated with ultrafiltered milk and contains 30 grams of protein, 140 calories to 150 calories and less than 1 gram of sugar. The milkshake is offered in vanilla and chocolate flavors.

USANA Health Sciences, Inc. is introducing a protein beverage formulated with prebiotics to its Rise Wellness Brand. Protein Pop Balance is formulated with 15 grams of protein, including 10 grams of clear whey protein isolate, along with 5 grams of collagen and 5 grams of fiber. The soda is sweetened with stevia leaf extract blend and is free from caffeine. The lineup includes lime slush, tropical pineapple, watermelon lime and fruit punch flavors.

“Protein Pop Balance is all about giving people a lighter way to stay on track,” said Darin Perry, chief executive officer of Rise Wellness. “It’s a smart way to support your gut and your protein goals at the same time — without it feeling heavy. Balance brings together prebiotics, protein, collagen and fiber in one can that’s easy for consumers to grab and go.”

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BATTLE CREEK, MICH. — WK Kellogg Co has partnered with Belgian agricultural services company Soil Capital to support a large-scale wheat sourcing program that will help British farmers adapt regenerative agricultural practices.

Over the next five years, both companies will work with 25 wheat farmers across almost 4,000 hectares (9,880 acres) of UK farmland, providing guidance and financial incentives to growers. They also will have access to tools combining field data, soil measurements and satellite monitoring to track selected indicators over time, WK Kellogg said.

The program will support 100% of locally sourced wheat for various British Kellogg’s cereals, including Special K, where two million bowls are made every hour at the company’s facility in Wrexham. It also will strengthen UK wheat supply chain resilience and contribute to reducing emissions in its agricultural supply chain, the company said.

Kellogg said early feedback for the program has been good. Data from the 2025 harvest show that direct drilling, one of the core practices used to improve soil health and farm resilience, across the whole farmed area increased by 14% and across the wheat area increased by 56%. One wheat farmer said the financial support he received from the program allowed him to “decrease the amount of fertilizer used in favor of organic poultry manure, which is kinder to the soil and improves organic matter.” Another farmer found positive differences in his soil structure, “including improving the infiltration of water, when compared to a neighboring farm.”

“At a time when UK farmers are facing challenges, from unpredictable weather, to pressure on productivity, we’re proud to support wheat growers to adopt practices intended to strengthen the resilience of their farms,” said Dean O’Brien, UK general manager of WK Kellogg Co. “We’ve been at British breakfast tables for over 100 years and we know that we couldn’t do that without the passion and commitment of British farmers to provide the quality ingredients we need to make our iconic cereals.”

Kellogg has worked with UK wheat farmers for more than a decade, sourcing more than 20 thousand tonnes of UK wheat each year for its British cereals.

Social Security recipients who receive the program’s highest level of benefits are positioned for another increase in 2027, though the exact size of that boost will not be confirmed until federal officials release the official cost-of-living adjustment next month.

The Social Security Administration is scheduled to announce the official 2027 cost-of-living adjustment, commonly known as the COLA, on October 14. The annual figure is calculated based on the average year-over-year change in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W, measured across July, August and September.

Ahead of that official announcement, the nonprofit advocacy group The Senior Citizens League has projected the 2027 COLA will land at 3.5%. If that prediction holds, the average Social Security benefit check would rise by $67.90. The average monthly Social Security benefit currently stands at $1,940.08, meaning a 3.5% increase would push the typical monthly payment to $2,007.98.

The relatively small share of beneficiaries who receive Social Security’s maximum monthly payment stand to see a proportionally similar increase. According to figures cited by 24/7 Wall Street, Social Security’s current maximum monthly benefit is $5,181. Under the Senior Citizens League’s projected 3.5% COLA, that maximum payment would rise to approximately $5,362 a month in 2027.

Reaching that maximum benefit level remains rare among Social Security recipients. Experts estimate only about 1% of beneficiaries actually receive the full monthly maximum of $5,181, equivalent to $62,172 annually, while just 1.4% of retirees receive more than $50,000 per year in total Social Security income.

How Social Security payments are calculated
The size of an individual’s monthly Social Security check depends on a combination of factors, primarily lifetime earnings history, the age at which someone retires, and when they choose to begin drawing benefits. Because those variables differ from person to person, the Social Security Administration has said there is “no simple maximum amount that covers everyone receiving retirement benefits.”

To calculate an individual’s monthly benefit, the Social Security Administration reviews a worker’s 35 highest-earning years and adjusts those earnings for inflation. Higher lifetime earnings during those top-earning years translate directly into a higher monthly benefit once someone begins claiming. For 2026, Social Security’s taxable wage cap stands at $184,500, meaning any income earned above that threshold in a given year is not subject to Social Security payroll taxes and does not factor into future benefit calculations.

Birth year and claiming age represent the other two major variables shaping an individual’s benefit amount, and the two factors are closely linked. A person’s birth year determines the age at which they reach “Full Retirement Age,” the point at which they become eligible to claim their full, unreduced benefit. For anyone born after 1960, that Full Retirement Age is currently set at 67.

Workers can begin claiming Social Security benefits as early as age 62, though doing so results in a permanently reduced monthly payment, with benefits reduced by one-half of one percent for each month claimed before reaching Full Retirement Age. Conversely, delaying benefits beyond Full Retirement Age up to age 70 increases the eventual monthly payment by roughly 8% for each year of delay, giving workers a meaningful financial incentive to postpone claiming if they are able to do so.

Those dynamics produce a wide range of maximum monthly payments depending on claiming age. For workers who earned at least the taxable wage cap across their 35 highest-earning years, the Social Security Administration’s maximum monthly payment figures for 2026 are $2,969 for someone claiming at age 62, $4,152 for someone claiming at Full Retirement Age, generally 67 for most current retirees, and the full $5,181 maximum for those who wait until age 70 to begin claiming benefits.

Social Security payments have been automatically adjusted for inflation on an annual basis since 1975, a mechanism designed to help beneficiaries’ purchasing power keep pace with rising consumer prices over time. The largest cost-of-living adjustment in the program’s history came in 1980, when high inflation drove benefits up by 14.3% in a single year. More recently, the 2026 COLA, which took effect in January of this year, came in at 2.8%, raising the average monthly benefit for a retired worker by approximately $56, from $2,015 to $2,071, according to Social Security Administration estimates.

With the official 2027 COLA announcement still roughly a month away, the Senior Citizens League’s 3.5% projection remains an estimate rather than a confirmed figure, and the final number could shift depending on how inflation data for the remaining months of the measurement period comes in. Beneficiaries will not know the precise size of their 2027 benefit increase, including the updated maximum monthly payment figures across all three claiming ages, until the Social Security Administration releases its official calculation on October 14, a announcement that will also typically include updated figures for the taxable wage cap and other inflation-adjusted program thresholds for the coming year.