6 ms·

Milk may not be the healthy food it was touted to be, but neither are most if not all of these "milks" that are basically mostly water and sugar. I'd take lacto

by mnm1 8y ago

Milk may not be the healthy food it was touted to be, but neither are most if not all of these "milks" that are basically mostly water and sugar. I'd take lactose over fructose or glucose any day. That's the main selling point: a slightly sweet, natural drink sweetened by lactose rather than fructose and glucose directly. Otherwise, I might as well drink soda--from looking at the sugar content of most of these "milks" it's roughly as healthy.

dashundchen 8y ago
I don't know what region you are in, but in the US almost any store that stocks non-dairy milks will sell sweetened and unsweetened. Though I agree with disliking the sweetened stuff. I'm not sure who the market for the sweetened stuff is for - coffee creamer maybe, or trying to simulate milk lactose? but the unsweetened works just as well in any scenario. Additionally, nut and oat milks are very easy and cheap to make with just a blender and cheesecloth. You can control the amount of food you want to "milk" and change the thickness/mouthfeel, add a little vanilla and end up with a much better result than the 'watered-down' store brands.
- mnm1 8y ago
  Yeah but the problem with unsweetened soy and almond milk (and even slightly sweetened) is that it's fucking disgusting so it has no use for me and for anyone that feels that way. I highly doubt any of the other veggie milks here are less disgusting. I would guess that lactose free milk is also disgusting before they add sugar back in but can't prove it.
  - williamdclt 8y ago
    > fucking disgusting so it has no use for me and for anyone that feels that way That's a completely different argument from your original one. And you could apply it to any food, a lot of people find cow milk "fucking disgusting", there's no point arguing on subjective taste
    - mnm1 8y ago
      It's a different argument because it addresses a different point: "unsweetened works just as well in any scenario." Clearly, that's not the case as the sweetened and unsweetened versions are not comparable due to taste.
  - yowlingcat 8y ago
    Perhaps that's coming from the preparation of the milk and not the milk itself? I personally really dislike any kind of a sweet milk and sweet flavors in general, so I've learned to appreciate the different flavors for what they are. Expanding your palate is not a given (at least not for me), it's sometimes a thing you've got to actively put effort into, and it's also something that changes as you get older.
justin66 8y ago
> Milk may not be the healthy food it was touted to be, but neither are most if not all of these "milks" that are basically mostly water and sugar. I don't know why you'd write that. The almond milk I buy is unsweetened, and I'm pretty sure it's a popular one since they sell it by the pallet at Costco. All the common soy milks offer an unsweetened option AFAIK.
- gorilla_fight 8y ago
  Is this the almond milk you buy at Costco? https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature-Organic-Almond-Beverage,-Vanilla,-32-fl-oz,-6-count.product.100314147.html https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature-Organic-Almond-Bev... It may be unsweetened, but it has a lot of added ingredients you might not want. Here are the nutritional facts: https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/CostcoUSBCCatalogAssetStore/Attachment/5.1002373ksALMONDBEVERAGENUTRITION.pdf https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/CostcoUSBCCatalogAssetStore/... * Organic Almond Base (Filtered Water, Organic Almonds) * Organic Vanilla Flavor * Sea Salt * Sunflower Lecithin: this is an emulsifier * Organic Locust Bean Gum: a thickening and gelling agent * Gellan Gum: another gelling agent * Vitamin A Palmitate: an ester of retinol, less bioavailable than the retinol vitamin A found in animal foods * Ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2): a different type of vitamin D than D3 (cholecalciferol) which is found in organ meats, eggs, diary, * DL-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E): a synthetic ester of alpha-tocopheryl, with less than half the bioavailability as alpha-tocopheryl vitamin E, but longer shelf life * Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) * Zinc Gluconate * Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)
gorilla_fight 8y ago
> I'd take lactose over fructose or glucose any day. I came to the same conclusion, to expand on this point: lactose = glucose + galactose, and there is some interesting research on the benefits of galactose: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240634/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240634/ Galactose Enhances Oxidative Metabolism and Reveals Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Human Primary Muscle Cells normally it is broken down to glucose, which can be quickly used for energy by the muscular system. In contrast, sucrose = glucose + fructose, the fructose requiring a complex breakdown process by the liver (see Robert Lustig's research, especially his 2009 lecture _Sugar: The Bitter Truth_). Milk can actually be quite healthful, an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2, depending on the conditions the cow was raised in and the forage and pasture she was fed. It is also absent of many of the compounds found in nut-based products, including phytoestrogens: plant-based estrogen found in soybeans, phytic acid: inhibits absorption of dietary minerals calcium/iron/zinc found in oats (although the phytate content can be reduced by soaking the oats overnight, how many producers of oat-based products do this?) and almonds/hazelnuts/peanuts/tiger nuts/walnuts/cashews, lectins: carbohydrate-binding proteins found in legumes including peas and soybeans. From a purely nutritional standpoint, these alternative "mylks" (hat tip to the EU for preventing a corruption of the meaning of the word "milk") seem to be strictly inferior: lower in the good stuff, higher in the bad stuff. > Otherwise, I might as well drink soda,--from looking at the sugar content of most of these "milks" it's roughly as healthy. This reminds me of the push to replace soda with fruit juice, but then it turned out they both often have a comparable sugar content: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/09/319230765/fruit-juice-vs-soda-both-beverages-pack-in-sugar-and-health-risk https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/09/319230765/fr... History repeats, and yet again we see a similar push. Personally I am sticking with good old-fashioned milk myself, the bar to replace a 10,000 year old (estimated 9000-7000 BCE) food is quite high.
- selimthegrim 8y ago
  Overnight oats are quite a popular product...
  - gorilla_fight 8y ago
InclinedPlane 8y ago
I drink unsweetened soy milk, it contains 1g of sugar per serving. Even the fully sweetened variant contains only about 2/3 the sugar content of regular milk.
deleted 8y ago
[deleted]

by mnm1 8y ago

dashundchen 8y ago

I don't know what region you are in, but in the US almost any store that stocks non-dairy milks will sell sweetened and unsweetened. Though I agree with disliking the sweetened stuff. I'm not sure who the market for the sweetened stuff is for - coffee creamer maybe, or trying to simulate milk lactose? but the unsweetened works just as well in any scenario. Additionally, nut and oat milks are very easy and cheap to make with just a blender and cheesecloth. You can control the amount of food you want to "milk" and change the thickness/mouthfeel, add a little vanilla and end up with a much better result than the 'watered-down' store brands.

mnm1 8y ago
Yeah but the problem with unsweetened soy and almond milk (and even slightly sweetened) is that it's fucking disgusting so it has no use for me and for anyone that feels that way. I highly doubt any of the other veggie milks here are less disgusting. I would guess that lactose free milk is also disgusting before they add sugar back in but can't prove it.
- williamdclt 8y ago
  > fucking disgusting so it has no use for me and for anyone that feels that way That's a completely different argument from your original one. And you could apply it to any food, a lot of people find cow milk "fucking disgusting", there's no point arguing on subjective taste
  - mnm1 8y ago
    It's a different argument because it addresses a different point: "unsweetened works just as well in any scenario." Clearly, that's not the case as the sweetened and unsweetened versions are not comparable due to taste.
- yowlingcat 8y ago
  Perhaps that's coming from the preparation of the milk and not the milk itself? I personally really dislike any kind of a sweet milk and sweet flavors in general, so I've learned to appreciate the different flavors for what they are. Expanding your palate is not a given (at least not for me), it's sometimes a thing you've got to actively put effort into, and it's also something that changes as you get older.

justin66 8y ago

> Milk may not be the healthy food it was touted to be, but neither are most if not all of these "milks" that are basically mostly water and sugar. I don't know why you'd write that. The almond milk I buy is unsweetened, and I'm pretty sure it's a popular one since they sell it by the pallet at Costco. All the common soy milks offer an unsweetened option AFAIK.

gorilla_fight 8y ago
Is this the almond milk you buy at Costco? https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature-Organic-Almond-Beverage,-Vanilla,-32-fl-oz,-6-count.product.100314147.html https://www.costco.com/Kirkland-Signature-Organic-Almond-Bev... It may be unsweetened, but it has a lot of added ingredients you might not want. Here are the nutritional facts: https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/CostcoUSBCCatalogAssetStore/Attachment/5.1002373ksALMONDBEVERAGENUTRITION.pdf https://www.costco.com/wcsstore/CostcoUSBCCatalogAssetStore/... * Organic Almond Base (Filtered Water, Organic Almonds) * Organic Vanilla Flavor * Sea Salt * Sunflower Lecithin: this is an emulsifier * Organic Locust Bean Gum: a thickening and gelling agent * Gellan Gum: another gelling agent * Vitamin A Palmitate: an ester of retinol, less bioavailable than the retinol vitamin A found in animal foods * Ergocalciferol (Vitamin D2): a different type of vitamin D than D3 (cholecalciferol) which is found in organ meats, eggs, diary, * DL-Alpha-Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E): a synthetic ester of alpha-tocopheryl, with less than half the bioavailability as alpha-tocopheryl vitamin E, but longer shelf life * Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) * Zinc Gluconate * Cyanocobalamin (Vitamin B12)

gorilla_fight 8y ago

> I'd take lactose over fructose or glucose any day. I came to the same conclusion, to expand on this point: lactose = glucose + galactose, and there is some interesting research on the benefits of galactose: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240634/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3240634/ Galactose Enhances Oxidative Metabolism and Reveals Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Human Primary Muscle Cells normally it is broken down to glucose, which can be quickly used for energy by the muscular system. In contrast, sucrose = glucose + fructose, the fructose requiring a complex breakdown process by the liver (see Robert Lustig's research, especially his 2009 lecture _Sugar: The Bitter Truth_). Milk can actually be quite healthful, an excellent source of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K2, depending on the conditions the cow was raised in and the forage and pasture she was fed. It is also absent of many of the compounds found in nut-based products, including phytoestrogens: plant-based estrogen found in soybeans, phytic acid: inhibits absorption of dietary minerals calcium/iron/zinc found in oats (although the phytate content can be reduced by soaking the oats overnight, how many producers of oat-based products do this?) and almonds/hazelnuts/peanuts/tiger nuts/walnuts/cashews, lectins: carbohydrate-binding proteins found in legumes including peas and soybeans. From a purely nutritional standpoint, these alternative "mylks" (hat tip to the EU for preventing a corruption of the meaning of the word "milk") seem to be strictly inferior: lower in the good stuff, higher in the bad stuff. > Otherwise, I might as well drink soda,--from looking at the sugar content of most of these "milks" it's roughly as healthy. This reminds me of the push to replace soda with fruit juice, but then it turned out they both often have a comparable sugar content: https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/09/319230765/fruit-juice-vs-soda-both-beverages-pack-in-sugar-and-health-risk https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/06/09/319230765/fr... History repeats, and yet again we see a similar push. Personally I am sticking with good old-fashioned milk myself, the bar to replace a 10,000 year old (estimated 9000-7000 BCE) food is quite high.

selimthegrim 8y ago
Overnight oats are quite a popular product...
- gorilla_fight 8y ago

InclinedPlane 8y ago

I drink unsweetened soy milk, it contains 1g of sugar per serving. Even the fully sweetened variant contains only about 2/3 the sugar content of regular milk.

deleted 8y ago

[deleted]