Ok so quite a few of you guys have been asking me this question, and although there is not one milk in particular that is best, there are some things that you should look out for when choosing which one to buy (apart from liking the taste – which is a given ahhaaaa).
To explain this, I think that the most logical thing for me to do is to compare the alternative milks to the traditional dairy product, as this is what the plant-based alternatives are meant to mimic.
Now dairy is actually a really important component of the diet, with the Eatwell guide (2016) recommending that 8% of our dietary intake to come from dairy products. This is because it's such a valuable source of protein, calcium and iodine, as well as being a really good source of vitamin B2 and B12 (BDA, 2019). Most dairy-free milks are fortified with these nutrients as they do not contain them naturally. However, some are not, and the levels in which they are fortified do vary. So, when it comes to finding a suitable alternative to dairy milk, those are the nutrients to look out for.
It’s also important to note that organic products cannot be fortified, and so organic plant-based milks should not be relied upon as sources of calcium, iodine, vitamin B12 or vitamin B2.
So, which dairy-free milk matches up best?
I have chosen to compare popular branded versions of soya, oat, almond, coconut and pea milk (as these seem to be the most popular alternatives that people buy) and have used semi-skimmed as the standard of comparison.
(Tesco, 2020)(Mighty Pea, 2020)
As you can see from the table, protein-wise soya and pea milk are the closest to cow’s milk – with pea milk containing higher levels of calcium, iodine and vitamin B12 than semi-skimmed. However, it does not seem to be fortified with vitamin B2 and is also the priciest of the bunch. Neither almond milk nor coconut milk are fortified with iodine – with coconut milk also containing little to no vitamin B2. Vitamin and mineral wise, Oatly’s original oat milk seems to be pretty similar to semi-skimmed but its protein content is less than a third of its counterpart.
So, which is best to choose?
Simply looking at the nutritional content of these milks and taking their respective prices into consideration, the most similar product to semi-skimmed cow’s milk, seems to be soya – with pea milk coming in at a close second.
However, when choosing a dairy-free milk to drink there are more factors other than just nutrition to take into account. For example, it’s taste and performance are also very important. You’re not going to want to drink a milk that you don’t like the taste of nor cook with it if it is prone to curdling and so it’s important to also to take these factors into account when choosing which product to buy.
I hope that this was somewhat helpful and has answered your queries on the topic. If you would like to learn about it/find out more information on what I have covered – you may find the following pages to be quite useful:
References:
2016.Government Dietary Recommendations. [ebook] London: PHE Publications. Available at: <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/618167/government_dietary_recommendations.pdf> [Accessed 19 May 2020].
Bda.uk.com. 2019.Dairy Benefits. [online] Available at: <https://www.bda.uk.com/resource/dairy-benefits.html> [Accessed 19 May 2020].
Tesco.com. 2020.Tesco Groceries. [online] Available at: <https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=alpro&icid=tescohp_sws-1_m-ft_in-alpro_ab-226-b_out-alpro> [Accessed 19 May 2020].
Mighty Pea. 2020.Mighty Pea - A Dairy-Free Alternative To Cow's Milk. [online] Available at: <https://mightypea.co.uk/> [Accessed 19 May 2020].