During the last decade, many consumers have turned to using alternative products based on vegetable milk. According to the reports obtained from Fortune Business Insights, the growth of such products will reach more than 69 billion dollars in 2030.
Euromonitor International announced this year that more than 30 percent of the people participating in the survey found the reason for their favorite to be more healthy for these products, which are mainly made from soy, almonds, and oats.
Global nutritionist Maria Mascdaraque told Euromonitor International: “The results of the research show that most plant-based milks are less nutritious than cow’s milk, opposing to what is believed.”
To compare vitamin D, production and calcium in plant-based milk and cow’s milk, 223 plant-based milks from 23 different brands were collected and consumed in the United States. Out of this number, about two-thirds of these products were soy, oat, and almond, and the rest were made from coconut, flax, pistachio, walnut, rice, hemp, hazelnut, cashew, and other plant ingredients.
Abigail Johnson, an assistant professor at the Center for Nutrition at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, said: “Experiments have shown that plant-based milks are not nutritionally equal compared to cow’s milk.”
The results showed that only 16% of plant-based alternative milks had a higher protein content than cow’s milk, which was most probable related to milks produced with peas and soy.
In general, it can be said that only 12% of plant milks have a similar or higher amount of all three nutrients (vitamin D, protein and calcium) compared to cow’s milk.
Plant-based milk enrichment:
Abigail Johnson stated that considering that many consumers tend to use plant-based milk and, on the other hand, the nutrients of these products are not equivalent to the nutrients of cow’s milk, the enrichment during production with vitamin D and calcium is of particular importance. As from the number of 223 tested products, 170 products were enriched with both nutrients. In addition, in order to inform the consumers, more attention should be paid to the nutritional value tables on the product labels.
Although many plant-based milks probably have other nutritional value that cow’s milk does not have, more studies should be done, such as the fiber in these products, which certainly provides part of the nutritional desires of each person.
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