Research Makes New Revelations On Cow Milk

Cow’s milk consumption has drastically declined in recent years as people increasingly turn to products made of soy, oat, almond or other sources on the long list of alternatives to splash in their morning coffee

But as consumers shy away from cow’s milk for health, ecological sustainability and other reasons, experts warn that plant-based options are not always nutritionally equal to what comes from the dairy farm.

That’s the conclusion of a new, unpublished study presented Monday in Boston at Nutrition 2023, the annual meeting of the American Society for Nutrition, CNN reports.

The study found that only 28 of the beverages had as much or more protein, vitamin D and calcium as cow’s milk. About half were fortified with vitamin D, two-thirds were fortified with calcium and nearly 20% had protein levels similar to dairy.

Lead study author and registered dietitian Abigail Johnson, Ph.D., noted that people need not be “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.”

“But if a consumer thinks plant-based milks are a one-to-one substitution for dairy, many of them are not,” she warned.

The study concluded that only 38 of the 223 milk alternatives had 8 grams of protein or more — the amount typically found in an 8-ounce glass of milk.

Plant-based milks typically contain only about 2 grams of protein, though soy- and pea-based milks and some milk blends were found to have between 6 and 10 grams.

When looking at calcium and vitamin D, the study concluded that 170 of the 233 alt-milk options were fortified with nearly the same amounts as found in a glass of dairy milk. About half were fortified with vitamin D levels similar to those found in dairy, while two-thirds matched dairy in calcium and less than one-fifth in protein.

The researchers found that 76% of oat-based products, 69% of soy-based alternatives and 66% of almond-based options were fortified with calcium and vitamin D.

“The key takeaway is, if you’re consuming these because of a specific nutrient, you need to be reading the label because the products are so different from each other,” Johnson said.

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