Are we going nuts over milks?

Remember when the most complicated choice you had to make in the milk section of the grocery store was to choose between skim and whole milk? Now, you probably will find cartons dairy-like beverages made from foods you never thought could be “milked”, such as almonds, oats, rice, or peas.

1. The bright side

Many customers are excited about these new milk options, as for example, those with lactose intolerance. According to research by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, a reduction in the digestion of lactose has appeared in 65% of the world population. In East Asia, 70–100% of people su?er from lactose intolerance. This intolerance is also common in West African, Arab, Jewish, Greek, and Italian populations (Aydar, E. F. et al., 2020).

The same research claims that people also choose plant-based milk substitutes for several health-related reasons. For instance, a heavy consumption of animal-based foods has been linked to cardiovascular diseases and an increase in cholesterol; thus, a growing number of people are resorting to non-animal milks as a healthier alternative. In addition, these new non-dairy milk alternatives made from cereals, legumes, seeds, or nuts contain dietary ?ber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

In addition to the role of a plant-based diet in a decrease in cardiovascular diseases (Pistollato et al., 2018), a diet rich in plant-based foods including soybeans and nuts reduces the risk of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease (Sarni, 2019). Plant-based milk substitutes also have positive e?ects, as they are usually rich in antioxidant activity and fatty acid which reduce cancer, atherosclerosis, and diabetes risk (Zujko & Witkowska, 2014).

2. The darker side

Plant-based milks may have some of the aforementioned advantages, but they have some disadvantages too. Some of them are the lack of protein content, low bioavailability of minerals and vitamins, and high added sugar levels. In addition, although many plant-based milks are enriched with many of the nutrients found in cow’s milk, not all of them are.

On the other hand, cow’s milk is naturally rich in protein, calcium, potassium, and B vitamins.

In addition, apart from the cow’s milk benefits that are not naturally found in plant-based milks, epidemiology studies have shown that there can be potentially negative nutritional impacts of plant-based milks if consumers do not take special care to obtain the correct balance of essential vitamins and minerals. For instance, the percentage of people not meeting their daily requirements for vitamin A, vitamin D, calcium, and protein increased for those on a more plant-based diet (McClements, 2019).

It should be stressed that the nutrient profile of plant-based milks varies considerably depending on their formulation, which must be accounted for when comparing their properties. For example, a chocolate soymilk may have 30% more calories per unit weight than a regular soymilk, difference that is mainly due to the extra added sugars.

So, what would the whole picture of it be? In 2020, The American Society of Nutrition shared a post summing up the main differences between cow milk and other non-fortified plant based milks in terms of nutritional composition:

• Oat milk has almost as many?calories?as cow milk (130 vs. 148). Almond, rice, coconut, hemp, and cashew milk are lower in calories.
• Most plant-based milks have 25-63% of the?fat?of cow milk, except for hemp milk (8 g)
• All plant-based milks are low in?sugar?(<3 g) except for oat (17g) and hazelnut (13g) vs. cow (12g)
• All plant-based milks are low in?protein?except for soybean (9g), pea (8g), and flaxseed (8g) vs. cow (8g)
• All plant-based milks have equal?sodium concentrations?except coconut, which is much lower (15 mg vs. 105 mg)
• Pea protein milk has more?potassium?than cow milk (450 vs. 322 mg); soy is comparable (390 mg)
• Almond, pea, and flaxseed milk have more?calcium?than cow milk (560, 560, 450 mg vs. 425 mg)

--> Found it interesting? Click here and find out more about nutritional composition of market plant-based milks !

Also, low bioavailability of vitamins and minerals because of some anti-nutrients and polyphenols can be overcome by fermentation (Samitya, 2020).

3. How nuts are we???

Things aren’t going well for milk producers. As published in Foodidve this year, in late 2019 and early 2020, two of the nation's largest milk companies filed for bankruptcy. Both companies ran into trouble as traditional milk consumption fell, consumers turned to plant-based alternatives, and?grocery retailers invested in their own milk production facilities, which enabled them to sell milk at very low prices and subsidize the operations through higher profits in other sections of the store.

On the other hand, the plant-based industry is achieving its aims to grow and improve effectively.?In 2019, according to statistics from the Plant Based Foods Association, plant-based alternatives made up 14% of the entire milk market.

Source: https://omdfortheplanet.com/blog/5-reasons-plant-based-milk/

4. Plant-based milk: how expensive is it?

The plant-based market’s biggest drivers, almond milk and soy milk, cost almost double as regular dairy milk, with a price of $4.29 a half-gallon (64-ounces) against $2.17 for the same amount of cow milk. The price tag on oat milk is almost 2.5 times the cost of dairy milk, at $5.29 a half-gallon (Marketwatch, 2019).

Analysts found that the reason behind this difference is that dairy milk is priced too low. When estimating the cost components of a gallon of milk, the greatest share goes to the raw material. Dairy milk has almost no associated R&D or marketing costs. Meanwhile, average profits are several times lower, both for the producers and retailers (Poinksy, 2021).

5. Let’s talk about taste!

Natural plant-based milk alternatives, which meet the nutritional quality and taste of animal-derived milk without blending, are of particular interest, as clean label foods and beverages are a trend (Sethi, 2016). However, in terms of tasting, they suffer from undesirable off-flavors.

Although certain components of plant materials, such as soluble fibers, positively influence texture and mouthfeel, plant-based milk alternatives are still generally perceived as products with a displeasing taste (Wansink et al. 2005).

Plant based milks usually smell beany and earthy, as the oxidation of plant lipids generates n-hexanal and n-hexanol. This makes them not palatable in most of European countries, that aren’t culturally used to plant-based milks. Also, plant phenols, terpenes, glucosinolates, and flavonoids that are naturally present originate bitter, acrid, and astringent taste that aren’t desirable either (Drewnowski and Gomez Carneros, 2000).

However, if during the “milking” process of plant based milks fermentation is included, this can improve the sensory profile. In a 2019 study, microbial fermentation decreased the beany flavor of the final plant-based milk, probably because n-hexanal and n-hexanol weren’t formed (Tangyu, 2019). Another beneficial side effect of fermentation is that this process can generate desirable volatile flavors such as diacetyl (2,3-butanedione), that is characteristic to give a nice butterscotch-like aroma. (Peyer et al. 2016).

--> Would you like to know more? Check on the milk flavor wheel!

Source: Tangyu, M., Muller, J., Bolten, C. J., & Wittmann, C. (2019). Fermentation of plant-based milk alternatives for improved flavour and nutritional value. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103(23–24), 9263–9275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10175-9

About me

I am Mei and I am a professional Food Technologist with over 6 years of experience in the food industry. I specialize in identifying innovative food solutions in line with changing market dynamics worldwide. I am passionate about flavor and tastes and write articles to facilitate learning about this incredible and extensive world!

References

Aydar, E. F., Tutuncu, S., & Ozcelik, B. (2020). Plant-based milk substitutes: Bioactive compounds, conventional and novel processes, bioavailability studies, and health effects. Journal of Functional Foods, 70, 103975. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2020.103975

Drewnowski, A., & Gomez-Carneros, C. (2000). Bitter taste, phytonutrients, and the consumer: a review. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 72(6), 1424–1435. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/72.6.1424

Ferreira, S. (2020, August 23). Going nuts about milk? Here’s what you need to know about plant-based milk alternatives. American Society for Nutrition. https://nutrition.org/going-nuts-about-milk-heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-plant-based-milk-alternatives/

McClements, D. J., Newman, E., & McClements, I. F. (2019). Plant‐based Milks: A Review of the Science Underpinning Their Design, Fabrication, and Performance. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 18(6), 2047–2067. https://doi.org/10.1111/1541-4337.12505

Peyer, L. C., Zannini, E., & Arendt, E. K. (2016). Lactic acid bacteria as sensory biomodulators for fermented cereal-based beverages. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 54, 17–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2016.05.009

Pistollato, F., Iglesias, R. C., Ruiz, R., Aparicio, S., Crespo, J., Lopez, L. D., Manna, P. P., Giampieri, F., & Battino, M. (2018). Nutritional patterns associated with the maintenance of neurocognitive functions and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: A focus on human studies. Pharmacological Research, 131, 32–43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.phrs.2018.03.012

Poinski, M., & Poinski, M. (2021, February 12). Study: Higher plant-based milk prices are justified, but dairy milk is too cheap. Food Dive. https://www.fooddive.com/news/study-higher-plant-based-milk-prices-are-justified-but-dairy-milk-is-too/594744/

Redman, R. (2021, April 26). U.S. plant-based food retail sales jumped 27% in 2020. Supermarket News. https://www.supermarketnews.com/consumer-trends/us-plant-based-food-retail-sales-jumped-27-2020

Sarni, A. R., & Baroni, L. (2019). Milk and Parkinson disease: Could galactose be the missing link. Mediterranean Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, 12(1), 91–118. https://doi.org/10.3233/mnm-180234

Samtiya, M., Aluko, R. E., & Dhewa, T. (2020). Plant food anti-nutritional factors and their reduction strategies: an overview. Food Production, Processing and Nutrition, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-020-0020-5

Sethi, S., Tyagi, S. K., & Anurag, R. K. (2016). Plant-based milk alternatives an emerging segment of functional beverages: a review. Journal of Food Science and Technology, 53(9), 3408–3423. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-016-2328-3

Tangyu, M., Muller, J., Bolten, C. J., & Wittmann, C. (2019). Fermentation of plant-based milk alternatives for improved flavour and nutritional value. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 103(23–24), 9263–9275. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10175-9

Wansink, B., Sonka, S., Goldsmith, P., Chiriboga, J., & Eren, N. (2005). Increasing the Acceptance of Soy-Based Foods. Journal of International Food & Agribusiness Marketing, 17(1), 35–55. https://doi.org/10.1300/j047v17n01_03