Heather Bedard, C.H.E.
The non-dairy “milk” industry has brought in over 25 billion dollars in the past few years, and is projected to top 69 billion by 2030.[1] Within such a booming industry, you’ll find an ever-increasing number of types of milks with everything from macadamia to oat and cashew to coconut. With all of the different options out there, how do you know which ones are good to drink and what to look for? Let's check it out!
Plant milks can be a great alternative to dairy milk…although technically they aren’t anything like the dairy milk you’re used to. Certain types of plant milks can be better for baking or smoothies or eating cereal. For instance, oat milk has a rich, nutty taste that is good in coffees and cereals, while almond milk is thinner and has a blander profile making it great to use in baking. Plant milks can easily be made at home because the process basically consists of soaking the nut or plant meat in water, blending it, and then straining it. It's definitely a lot simpler to buy it from the store, but if you buy it in the store, there are some things to watch out for.
Anything other than nut (or plant meat) and water on your ingredient list means that there's going to be some additives. The one that you want to watch out for the most is oil. Oftentimes, companies will add lots of different kinds of oils to thicken the milk and make the consistency more dairy milk-like. The reason that you want to watch out for this is that oils can be inflammatory and add a decent amount of fat. The other thing you want to watch out for is gums and thickeners. These are just unnecessary additives that they put in the milk to make it more palatable for you. These additives aren’t necessarily going to be helpful for your body.
When you look at some ingredient lists you may see different types of vitamins that are added. I’ve written in other articles about how these vitamins aren't in the form that your body is going to absorb well. Don't let vitamins, on an ingredient list, fool you into thinking, “Oh, this is even healthier because it has all these vitamins that I know that I need for my body.” These vitamins actually aren't going to do a lot for you, and they can event be detrimental to you.
When it comes to soy milk, I would highly recommend only drinking organic due to the fact that a the majority of these plants are farmed using GMO seeds and all sorts of pesticides. Getting the cleanest products that you can would be definitely the best in this department.
You'll notice on some oat milk packaging that there is added sugar, even though you might not see any sugar in the label. And there is a reason for that. The sugar level is dependent on how the oats were processed. When you process the oats and put them in water, this is called hydrolyzed oats. Hydrolyzing the oats breaks down the carbs in the oats creating different types of sugars. Now, this isn't necessarily bad. If you were to make this at home, you would also be hydrolyzing your oats and creating the breakdown of sugars. This is just what naturally happens when you put an oat or a nut in water. The FDA states that sugar that is created through the controlled hydrolysis of starch or other complex carbohydrates in the production of plant-based beverages, or other foods, needs to be declared as added sugars on the nutrition facts label. This is because the sugars that are created through hydrolysis don't add anything nutritionally. They are just empty calories. The FDA just wants to make sure that you know that you're just getting empty calories of sugar. If sugar is a concern to you, this could be something to keep in mind when you're thinking about different plant and nut milks. When you're going dairy free, and you're using plant milks to cook with, I don't think it's going to be a big deal unless you're drinking cups and cups of this. In that case, you're going to be adding a lot of empty calories to your diet. All-in-all, enjoy plant milk as you would with anything at the top of the food pyramid, not more than once a day.
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This article is intended for informational purposes only. Nothing in this article is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice.