Oat Milk is a Poor Substitute

Jan 18

Jan 18 Oat Milk is a Poor Substitute

On the face of it, oat milk appears to be a good substitute for dairy but nutritionally it is like substituting a chicken sandwich for a bowl of porridge. If we want the nation to start consuming meat and dairy-free products as substitutes for natural ones, then they surely need to be nutritionally comparable and not just look and taste the same.

We now know that reducing the size of the meat and dairy industry is vital to help control environmentally harmful carbon emissions, but our health is important too and both these products provide a primary source of healthy fats and protein to a lot of people. Rather than make sweeping statements about the meat and dairy industry, it would be helpful to see a more nuanced view - there is a big difference between fresh produce from your local farm and the meat and dairy that goes into the production of unhealthy, processed foods and fast food. If we are going to vilify the consumption of meat and dairy, can we at least start with the latter?

The low-fat diet experiment, which was based on scant scientific evidence, coupled with the already rapid industrialisation of our food systems, fuelled a radical change in our eating habits, a huge increase in the levels of pollution in our environment and the ruination of our public health. What’s more incredible, is that even in the stark face of reality and a wealth of scientific data to contradict it, the low-fat/high-carb experiment continues. It continues because the companies that benefitted most from this change of diet are now of such size and power that successive governments have shied away from wrestling back any control. And so, these monopoly-like companies, which have continued to generate huge profits at the expense of the taxpayer and the environment, largely dictate what we eat. Now, aware of the prevailing science that we must all eat less meat and dairy they see a big, profit-making opportunity and have grasped it with both greasy hands.

So, despite still suffering the ill effects of the low-fat experiment, we seem remarkably keen to make drastic changes to our diets once more and potentially head down yet another blind alley. Our gung-ho attitude is largely due to our exposure to the billions of pounds of marketing thrust upon us by the food processing behemoths that infiltrate every form of our media. So, despite the fact that these companies have inflicted irreversible damage on our health over the last 50 years we are still receptive to their marketing and happy to dive into their new-fangled products without even reading the labels. It appears that our total disconnection with what we are putting into our bodies continues.

This is actually a big problem because the nutritional profiles, such as those detailed below, highlight the huge discrepancy between the natural products and their proposed substitutes and moreover, these numbers are just the headlines . The more subtle differences like the types of fat, the Omega 3 and Omega 6 fatty acids, the proteins, the vitamins and minerals all need to be taken into account. It is impossible for us to compute what the long term implications of a widespread switch to these foods might be. We used to eat meals consisting of meat, potatoes, vegetables, whole grains and dairy and no one got fat because the food was natural and the meals nutritionally well balanced. We now eat meals loaded with carbohydrates and refined oils together with numerous other ingredients we have trouble pronouncing.

“Don’t eat anything with more than five ingredients, or ingredients you can’t pronounce.”

— Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food

The majority of the population is now overweight or obese and can ill-afford to give up the natural sources of protein and healthy fats they obtain from meat and dairy. There are, of course, other natural sources of fats and protein but most people do not have the knowledge, skills, time or willingness to acquire them. Education is required but in recognition of this disconnect the food processing giants have stepped in with the products and marketing to make everything sound so simple - just switch to oat milk, just choose from the burgeoning range of meat-free products we put on the supermarket shelves, just buy a McPlant instead of a Big Mac. But it’s not simple. The products that they are offering are not nutritional substitutes and that is why we must proceed with caution.

“Becoming reliant on meat and dairy substitutes means more processed food, more obesity, more cost to the taxpayer and more profit and power to the behemoths of the food industry.”

— author

It would be a much safer route, in the first instance, to tackle the meat and dairy that goes into processed foods and fast foods. This use for meat and dairy is clearly a lose lose as the environment continues to suffer alongside the health of the population. If we continue down the path that we are heading we will simply lose the local, independent farms and further reward the processed food giants with a license to create a whole new market for engineered protein and dairy-free products. This means that we not only end up eating even more heavily processed foods filled with even more weird and wonderful ingredients, but we also lose further control of our food chain to companies motivated solely by profit.

Oatly v’s Full Fat Dairy

Oatly ingredients: Oat base (water, oats), low erucic acid rapeseed oil. Contains 2% or less of: dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate, DHA algal oil, sodium ascorbate (antioxidant), tocopherols (antioxidant), riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D2, vitamin B12. (source: Oatly)

Cows milk ingredients: Cows milk (including saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids and around 20 vitamins and minerals)

The nutritional profile of a pint of Oatly compared to Full-Fat Dairy:

Carbohydrate: Oatly 32g / Dairy 23g (33% difference)
Protein: Oatly 6g / Dairy 15g (85% difference)
Fat: Oatly 10g / Dairy 16g (46% difference)

Impossible Burger v’s Beef (10% Fat) Burger

Impossible Burger ingredients: Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant), Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamins and Minerals (Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12). (source: Impossible Foods)

Beef ingredients: Beef (including omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids, iron, zinc, selenium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, phosphorus, pantothenate, magnesium, and potassium.)

The nutritional profile for an Impossible 1/4 Pounder compared to Beef (10% Fat) is: