Soy Milk vs Almond Milk vs Oat Milk

 

Milk. That white liquid rich with fat, vitamins, minerals, and sugar milk namely lactose. But some people can’t consume lactose, those who can’t are called lactose intolerant. A person who is lactose intolerant can’t break down lactose in their digestive system and will result with symptoms such as bloating, nausea, and diarrhea. Then how do people with lactose intolerance have milk? Well, nowadays there are other alternatives to milk such as plant-based milk.

Plant based milks are made by either soaking, draining, and grinding a bean or a nut into a milk-like consistency or they are dried and milled into flour. The paste or flour is then fortified with vitamins and minerals, flavored, and then diluted with water. The nutrients in plant-based milk varies based on its main ingredient. So let’s look at some of the most popular plant based milks.

Soy Milk

Soy milk is the most popular amongst all the plant-based milk, being the first to be invented. It was popularized by Henry Ford, who opened a soy milk plant in 1934. However, soy milk didn’t really catch on until now because of the anti-soy movement. Some people believed soy stimulated hormones in the human body that can cause breast cancer but that claim had been proven wrong. Looking at its nutrients, soy milk has the most protein out of all the plant-based milks, some having 8 grams of proteins in a cup which is the same amount of proteins consisted in cow milk. Soy milk is also high in potassium, another essential nutrient the body needs.

Almond Milk

Almond milk has the least nutrients out of dairy, soy, and oat milk. It is low on calories and proteins, only having 30 calories and 1 gram respectively per serving. In comparison, regular cow milk has 100 calories and 8 grams of protein per serving. But it should be said most of plant-based milks has a low calorie count, roughly around 30 calories as well. Water needed to grow and produced almond milk is also concerning, at more than 70 liters of water per glass which is a lot higher than other plant-based milks but lower than dairy milk. While it sounds there are a lot of cons to almond milk, people seek out almond milk for their flavor, having a subtle nutty and mildly sweet flavor.

Oat Milk

Oat milk is relatively new to the plant-based milk market but becoming more and more popular because of its special properties. For starters, oat milk doesn’t contain neither soy or nuts which a lot of people are happy about concerning soy and nuts are one of the eight most common foods inducing allergies. Second, oat and soy milk require the least amount of water -only needing 5-10 liters per glass. Lastly, oat milk is full of beta glucans, a healthy type of fibre which benefits blood sugar, as well as digestive and heart problems. But it has a lot of carbohydrates compared to plant-based milks-sometimes as much as dairy milk. This is not necessarily a bad thing depending on if you are on a diet or not.

In conclusion, oat milk has the most carbohydrates, soy milk has the most proteins, and almond milk has the most pleasing taste. While it is true dairy milk consist more proteins, carbohydrates, and fats than plant-based milks, in terms of the health of our planet, plant-based milks are the way to go!

By Felicia M, XIIA1/11