Most plant-based milk, like almond milk or oat milk, contains less calcium, vitamin D, and protein than the ones found in cow’s milk. According to research conducted by the University of Minnesota, it is an essential drink to meet nutritional requirements. University of Minnesota.
To compensate for this, Many plant-based milks are enriched with vitamin D and calcium; however, they do not have the amount of protein as cow’s milk. Researchers found. The study covered more than 200 milk alternatives made of plants made of cashews and almonds, as well as flax, coconuts, hazelnuts, hemp, oats and hemp rice, pistachios, and walnuts. The results, which still need to be released, were announced at this week’s American Society for Nutrition’s annual conference held in Boston.
“About half were fortified with vitamin D, two-thirds were fortified with calcium, and nearly 20% had protein levels similar to cow’s milk,” the study’s lead researcher Abigail Johnson, Ph.D., RD, said to CNN.
Johnson directs the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center, which manages an inventory of 19,000 food items to research diet.
“I’m not seriously concerned about this as it’s easy to get these nutrients from other sources, and cow’s milk certainly isn’t perfect and infallible,” Johnson stated. “But if a consumer thinks plant-based milks are a one-to-one substitution for dairy, many of them are not.”
Consumers should be aware of the label on their products and look for ones that mention Vitamin D and calcium as the ingredients and include other sources of vitamin D and calcium in their diets, Johnson stated in the announcement.
The research team is planning to investigate further the benefits of milk made from plants and will focus on how the products are rich in fiber, which is not present in cow’s milk. Nutrition experts have told CNN that plant products have appealing characteristics like lower fat, lower cholesterol, and a higher fiber level and are made using environmentally-friendly methods than cow’s milk.
The current U.S. dietary guidelines indicate that most dairy products made from plants aren’t contributing to the recommended amount of dairy nutrients since their nutritional content differs from dairy milk or soy beverages fortified with a nutrient. A staggering 9 out of 10. people living in the U.S. need to meet the current dairy consumption recommendations, according to the USDA states. About 65% of U.S. children drink milk daily, while only 20% of adults consume dairy milk. A lot of dairy products have excessive amounts of sugar, saturated fats, and sodium, according to the guidelines.
“Most individuals would benefit by increasing intake of dairy in fat-free or low-fat forms, whether from milk (including lactose-free milk), yogurt, and cheese, or from fortified soy beverages or soy yogurt,” the guidelines say. “Strategies to increase dairy intake include drinking fat-free or low-fat milk or a fortified soy beverage with meals or incorporating unsweetened fat-free or low-fat yogurt into breakfast or snacks.”
“The NIH has not presented a timeline for results: They have highlighted that enrollment will begin over the next several months, likely meaning that results to benefit many millions with Long COVID are still at least a year away,” the group said.
COVID has been a problem for over four months over the next few years, “an unacceptable wait for patients to see meaningful results from this billion-dollar investment.”