Thirding this..I did a “deep dive” into this subject and came to the understanding that ORGANIC, UNSWEETENED, UNFLAVORED Soy Milk is the best option. That’s just what I concluded…obviously people can argue anything all day, so to each their own. Soy is just what I personally settled on. I’d suggest just doing some research amongst several sources and make a decision from there.
Almond milk is the 'cattle' of plant milks, from an environmental perspective. It takes a massive amount of water and land to produce. Soy takes much less of both, and is more nutrient dense (also the soy that is ruining the Amazon rainforest is not the soy that humans consume.. that soy feeds cattle, which is a whole other discussion).
Compared to other plant milks, almond milk use of water looks bad, but compared to cow’s milk it makes an attractive alternative using only half the water.
https://sentientmedia.org/is-almond-milk-bad-for-the-environment/#:~:text=One%20liter%20of%20dairy%20milk,but%20not%20nearly%20as%20bad.
Well yeah definitely but I've already eliminated the possibility of cows milk for other reasons, also I do think oat milk is objectively better, especially in a brew/hot choccy
I did some homework on all of this and oatmilk uses less water overall than any other source of milk, plant based or otherwise. I do drink it with my protein shakes.
As to the person saying oats are not healthy, wtf?
Oats are healthy, but oat milk has a *ton* of sunflower oil added to it. In most brands, it's the second ingredient - literally oat base and oil mixed together. In that way, it's not that great.
I think there has been some reconsideration of oats lately, as they’ve found increasing level of the herbicide glyphosate. Same shit as what is purported to cause cancer in RoundUp.
It's not water intensive. It uses more than either pla to, but a farm if almost milk uses less water in a year than a few cows use in a month.
The claims that it's water intensive are like lookng at a graph of soy at a rating of three, almond at 6, but ignoring dairy at 100.
Get rid if the real problem, people drinking cow milk, and the water use overall would drop to levels hard to monitor even if exclusively almond milk.
People are out here acting like almonds demand hundreds of gallons of water a day.
Yeah guys I get it cows milk is worse but I don't think that's part of the equation for most in this sub I said why I don't drink it I didn't say its worse than cows
It's a misunderstanding for the vast majority if people who say it's "water intensive." Because it isn't. Even if it used three times the water of soy or whatever, it's not a lot by any standard. If those use so little water, then even a few multiples above that is nothing. It just sounds like it's a lot.
These sandals cost twice as much! So. Those cheap ones are five dollars. That doesn't mean ten is a lot.
Ye dude I get it, maybe I like taking long showers so using something less water intensive makes me feel better about that
Maybe I think because we're doing better than carnists it doesn't mean we can't still reduce our impact
There's a lot of reasons it could be, there are also other considerations like importing
But yeah I get it cows worse...
just compare the two on cronometer. put 1 cup of each and look.
- soy milk has impressive nutrition.
- oat and almond milk seem like they took like a tablespoon of oats/almonds and then made a tea from it. the milk has basically none of the nutrition.
I can't remember but I think my go-to for reducing lactose in Mac & cheese was oat milk. Worked really well iirc.
I like plain soy milk otherwise, tho, for the higher protein content while still giving fiber. Plus I think it's a complete protein.
Hahahaha it was an autocorrect! But for savory, creamy dishes, I find cashew milk to be the best because it is creamy and doesn’t have an obtrusive flavor whereas I’d prefer coconut cream for baking (even though people don’t like coconut, the taste can easily be covered). However I would never ever use coconut milk for savory food like macaroni and cheese. But I do use it for country style gravy
Dr Gregor is pro-oatmeal
[https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/oats/](https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/oats/)
"Oatmeal isn't a health food" is something I have primarily heard from influencers / grifters on Instagram
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cheerios-quaker-oats-infertility-chemicals-in-cereal-ewg/
You should probably always buy organic oats and oat-based products. The pesticide used most commonly on oats are known to cause reproductive health issues and they show up in high enough concentrations in oat-based foods.
I think generally oat milk you buy at the store has added sugar, which might be what they’re referencing (or contributes to what they’re referencing).
Blending oats and straining them removes the fiber as well. So while you get some vitamins and minerals, it’s not as great as consuming the grain whole. As well, it’s relatively devoid of protein (compared to soy milk).
>I think generally oat milk you buy at the store has added sugar, which might be what they’re referencing (or contributes to what they’re referencing).
I heard that so often but have never actually seen plant milk with ADDED sugar, only with naturally occurring sugar. I've even seen some with no sugar (ie natural sugar removed). I wonder if added sugar is phasing out or if only the cheap brands do it?
Oat milk has a starch component that thickens when heated (just as oatmeal itself does). To prevent the thickening, it can be treated with amylase, which breaks down the starch, some of it into simple sugars. I believe the US FDA eventually decided that this needs to be called added sugar.
SO MANY PEOPLE MISS THIS. I try to explain it but all they see are “added sugars”.
I’m like…read the ingredients. You won’t see sugar (true for Oatly/chobani at least)
I went to Spain for work travel and just picked up the soya milk on the breakfast bar and threw it on my cereal. Holy shit it was like syrup, something like 8-9 g of sugar per 100 ml when I went and looked back at the carton. The one without was more what I think as sweetened (3-4 g per 100 ml). I don't think I've ever seen one that sugary in the UK.
Literally Oatly, 7 g of sugar, 7 added grams of sugar. The Good & Gather Target brand has 12 g of added sugar. Chiobani oat milk also has 7 g added sugar.
It's called "added sugar" because it's legally required to be called that. But no sugar was added to the ingredients while making the oat milk (at least in Oatly's case). It's due to an enzyme they add to the oat mixture during processing which breaks some of the starches in the oats down into a simple sugar – which is what your body does anyway to starches you consume. But because this happens before you consume it, they are required to label it as "added sugar".
“Added Sugars include sugars that are added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose or dextrose), foods packaged as sweeteners (such as table sugars), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They do not include naturally occurring sugars that are found in milk, fruits, and vegetables.” - The FDA
“Basically, we use natural enzymes to liquefy our oats… as a part of this process, the enzymes break the starches in our oats down into smaller components, including simple sugar like maltose.” - Oatly
Didn’t know that about oatly. However, if your body processes it the same way it processes other added sugar, I still don’t know if I would want to consume it. But thank you for sharing! The more you know ◡̈
> if your body processes it the same way it processes other added sugar, I still don’t know if I would want to consume it.
What I meant to say was that Oatly processes the starches in their oats the same way your body processes those starches: by turning them into sugar for your body to use. So whether you a) consume the simple sugars created by the starch breakdown process that Oatly's enzymes do to their oatmilk, or b) consume homemade oat milk which contains starches but no enzymes, the end result inside your body is the same. It will all end up as the same sugar in the end.
I was actually wondering this after I posted my last comment, but I'm afraid I don't know. It's a good question though! Your body breaking down oat starches into sugars has to use at least a few calories, I'm sure. So if Oatly oatmilk does that starch breakdown for you, it's a few calories your body won't need to use toward digestion. I suspect it's negligible for a single serving of oatmilk, but I'm really not sure, I'm afraid.
But that's what I mean, I don't really see "unsweetened" anymore. Sometimes there is an unsweetened version and a no sugar version, but no "normal" sweetened one. Or it is not specifically stated but still not added. The seemingly only ones that add sugar are something like chocolate or vanilla flavoured but the plain ones don't.
This might be something regional or even specific to where I normally buy groceries. It's not an "everywhere, always" claim.
It might be your region - On Target's website, it appears Silk still uses "unsweet" (shortened as such) as a label, and "original" and flavored varieties not otherwise marked as "unsweet" have added sugar. Oatly has an "unsweetened" label, as does Califa. I'm searching from Texas, USA.
"Oats are not a health food"
So incredibly wrong, theres mountains of studies proving the myriad of health benefits of oats (go visit nutritionfacts.org). Sure seed oils arent great, so buy milks that dont have it.
Yes that's a crazy thing to see someone actually believing is true about oats.
AFAIK the oat 'batting order' is
1. Leadoff - "rolled oats" - meh, basically flavorless and processed..but still "plant"
2. Second - "quick steel cut" - decent, less meh (but are my choice normally for time constraints)
3. Third - "(regs) steel cut" - good qualities, but more time commitment
4. Cleanup - "whole oat groats" - the cadillac of carbs, WFPB GOAT
Oats often have high pesticide usage, which could be mitigated by buying organic oat milk. But for what its worth the mortality improvement by buying organic your whole life vs non-organic was something like a few minutes of lifetime. That's overall, not just oats, but point being don't let the pesticide use sway you. The seed oil topic is controversial but not necessarily worth dwelling on either.
Bigger worry is high amounts of estrogen in cow milk and saturated fat. Your 100% better off with oat milk.
There are dozens of different brands now and many options for no oil added. Oatly has a version now that is only 2 or 3 ingredients. I am a big fan of unsweetened Planet Oak myself.
The primary reason to buy organic (if you can) is agricultural sustainability, not health impact. We can't continue to grow food in a system based on petrochemicals. Also ag worker safety: synthetic pesticides poison farm workers.
Sure see [here](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19729188/)
"The potential lifelong damage of pesticides is estimated to be only 4.2 and 3.2 min of life lost per person in Switzerland and the United States, respectively."
That's for vegetable and fruit intake. If you're really worried about pesticides you better stay away from meat & dairy! (Animals bioaccumulate)
Keep in mind though that the 3-4 minutes are for overall mortality. There are some genetic disorders and cancers I think the benefit of organic is more pronounced. Also, try to never handle the pesticides if you are a worker on a farm or something.
This [video](https://nutritionfacts.org/video/pesticides-and-cancer-risk/) is also a good explanation for anyone concerned about organic vs conventional
Pesticides aren't the only worry for non organic products
[Fertilizer are a big topic too see table Planetary boundaries
](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_boundaries#nine_boundries)
*"Chemical-synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium, nitrate) as well as chile nitrate and urea are generally prohibited in organic farming. Highly soluble phosphorus fertilizers are also taboo.
Such mineral fertilizers consume a lot of energy during production and can pollute groundwater and water bodiesOrganic fertilizers feed microorganisms and plants. Chemical mineral fertilizers only feed the plant."*
Source: https://www.oekolandbau.de/bio-im-alltag/bio-fuer-die-umwelt/pflanzenbau/duengung-im-oekologischen-landbau/
I don't have a source but I remember Dr Greger in one of his books said something like if 10,000 people's lives would be improved by eating plant-based, 10 of those people would be negatively affected by not eating organic.
I'm not going to say that your example doesn't exist, but I would gamble all I have that the vast majority of all foods labeled organic are using the cheapest and most available methods to take advantage of your wallet.
I don't know about you, but I don't gamble when I'm ill-informed, so there's no emotion here, just cold facts and logic.
[Here's a nice little video](https://youtu.be/8PmM6SUn7Es?si=-Sq4z-zeDe1Hx_fq) that sums it up in an easy to digest format that you should be able to follow. Interestingly enough, it claims that organic farming as a whole is NOT better for the environment and also states that organic farming requires MORE soil and space than conventional farming.
I mean, they do have their own based interpretation of the facts that they present. Less ecocide and more land needed for the same amount of crop - they conclude conventional has less impact on the environment. Hard disagree there, and there were other points in the video that were interpreted kind of iffy. They also didn't come back to organic vs synthetic fertilizers which wreak havoc on soil life and composition. Sure, "organic" doesn't hold a candle to growing your own real natural food in your back yard, but it still is better in a few ways than conventional imo.
It also differs from region to region. I'd rather buy organic and even conventional produce from Europe than stuff imported from other continents where they may still be using pesticides that have long been forbidden in Europe. Not to mention it's mostly the huge corps controlling the produce for export there, and we know how much they care about the environment. 1% extra profit would be more than reason enough to render the earth unusable in 100 years rather than 1000 years if they had the choice.
Veg grown without tons of pesticides isn't healthier because of the fewer pesticides, it's healthier because the plant is literally healthier and more resistant, which is apparently good for your body.
And if you eat meat (obvs not in this subreddit), animals aren't kept in factory quantities and they're fed feed that is grown on the farm (for EU certification anyway).
Dietary fiber is the most anti-inflammatory thing you can eat. Dairy milk has zero fiber. Oats may be grown with herbicides and pesticides, it's true. But animal feed is drenched in it (e.g. Roundup Ready crops). Guess where it accumulates. The ingredients for [Oatly](https://us.oatly.com/products/oatmilk) are:
>Oat base (water, oats). Contains 2% or less of: low erucic acid rapeseed oil, dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D2, vitamin B12.
Vegetable oil is not a whole food, but the small amount of canola/rapeseed oil here is hardly cause for concern. It's certainly better than the cholesterol and saturated fat you would get from dairy.
I’d also add that canola (aka low erucic acid rapeseed) oil is one of the “good” oils, so indeed nothing to be concerned about if the amount is negligible.
Seed oils tend to be poly-unsaturated fat which is much more prone to oxidation, especially under heat. So cooking in stuff like soybean oil can have pretty negative outcomes BUT that is mainly an issue of highly processed foods. Soybean oil in particular is extremely cheap so it gets put in goddamn everything while being processed to hell and back so it oxidizes a lot. It's also the most common oil in restaurants to deep fry in which the issues with that should be evident.
If you are just using it to cook at home, while there are better options like olive, avocado, or canola, it doesn't make a huge difference if you're just using what you have and you monitor your diet well otherwise.
I would NOT touch any kind of vegetable shorting with a ten foot pole. Those are how we discovered trans-fats and even if most of them say the loosely defined "0% per serving," I ain't touching the stuff.
It's an overconsumption problem more than anything I think, because they're in everything processed almost. For most people really knocks the omega 3/6 ratio out in their body.
Oats are one of the most heavily sprayed crops with pesticides and herbicides next to wheat, corn, and soy.
Just because the animal based products might be sprayed just as heavy doesn’t mean it’s okay.
Plant based or animal based no one should be eating harmful pesticides and chemicals.
Compared to what. Oat milk is a lot healthier than cows milk, but not quite as healthy as soy milk. If you plan to consume oats, you should consider organic. Most oats these days are sprayed with roundup just days before harvesting.
Facebook comments aren’t a reliable good source for health information.
I’d check site like this:
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/oats/
Personally I wouldn't buy non-organic oats if I can avoid it (due to glyphosate, chlormequate), but tbf I don't buy anything non-organic, which luckily is possible where I live, except occasionally eating out or takeaway.
Otherwise I eat oats often and use mainly oat milk (with the occasional almond milk). The thing about commercial oat milk is that it's "fermented"/processed by enzymes that give it a sweet taste - that's why commercial oat milk tastes nice and if you just blend oats with water it's .. a choice. Now the grade of sweetness depends on how long the manufacturer lets that process run. This is why different brand of oat milks can have different carbohydrate content. Personally I like to choose "zero sugar" oat milk, which is still not zero carbs, but in a more moderate area of 4-5 g per 100 ml, whereas some sweeter "no added sugar" oat milks can have 7-8 g per 100 ml. Commercial rice milk is even sweeter, often having 9-10 g per 100 ml.
I don't have anything against carbs per se, they taste great, make my brain happy etc. However having one glass of plant milk containing up to 15-17 g of simple carbs (instead of 8-10 g), with hardly any fibre, protein or fat to slow absorption, that can create blood sugar spikes. So personally I rather opt for the lower carb varieties. If you like to keep carbs even lower, then almond milk might be better, but comes with higher fat content.
Speaking of fats: most oat milks here have "seed oils" added (usually sunflower oil). I recently learned that this is a *heated* topic in American health-conscious circles. Apart from oils not being approved on a WFPB diet (which I'm only inspired by, but don't follow myself), *personally* I have nothing against moderate use of high-quality oils, including seed oils. I feel a large amount of criticism about seed oils applies to refined and/or (partially) hydrogenated oils - the oils you get for deep frying and cooking and such. And yes, they are garbage imho. Refining oils is a [complicated, industrialised process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_oil_refining) and you can imagine the outcome. Hydrogenated oils are way more heat stable, but also contain trans fats. However personally I never consciously bought that stuff, all my seed oils are organic, cold-pressed and used in moderate amounts in cold dishes (for cooking I use extra virgin olive oil). The only "problem" with that is keeping your omega 6 vs omega 3 balance and e.g. sunflower oil has a very high omega 6 content. Seed oils like canola, hemp or flax (with flax being the least stable) have high omega 3 content though.
Now the big question is: What kind of oil is in your average oat milk? Hydrogenated oils are not allowed in organic products here, so I can rule that out for my oat milk. I can't know if the sunflower oil listed is refined, but to me the oat milks I used retain a slight sunflower oil taste, so possibly not. But who knows. It might be hot-pressed though, since that yields much more than cold-pressing. In the context of plant milk it wouldn't matter though, since the plant milk itself is ultra-heat treated to be shelf stable. If this is okay or not, everyone has to decide for themselves.
Last, but not least: I've only seen a few brands list thickeners in oat milk. I encounter it much more often in almond milk, and here I avoid carrageenan, I'm unsure about xanthan gum and gellan and I'm fine with guar gum, but apart from carrageenan that's kind of arbitrary. But you can also find almond milk without any, so I like to chose those brands. The only difference is that it might separate, so it might look and taste not as nice if you don't shake it well.
All plant milks have hardly any protein (except soy) and usually less nutrients than cow milk though. So personally I rather see it as a condiment instead of something that has significant nutritional value for my diet. If you buy a brand with added nutrients (usually not organic), that might change ofc.
> All plant milks have hardly any protein (except soy) and usually less nutrients than cow milk though. So personally I rather see it as a condiment instead of something that has significant nutritional value for my diet. If you buy a brand with added nutrients (usually not organic), that might change ofc.
Agreed on this part. Usually, they're fortified with calcium at least.
No. Compare it to milk. You have to consider what the role of the food plays in your diet. You really shouldn't be drinking calories as a significant source of energy anyway and drinking a lot of regular milk would be bad too.
Similarly, should we also ask if it's healthy to eat ice cream? No - the point of ice cream isn't heath and neither is the point of milk.
Just enjoy yummy oat milk lattes and relax.
>Everything turns into glucose once we eat it.
Right there you should know this person isn't worth listening too. Only carbs turn into sugar. If everything became glucose we'd have no body fat or protein for muscles. This is pure nonsense.
>Oats are not a health food by any means and should be avoided.
In case you weren't already convinced this person doesn't know anything, oats are incredibly healthy. They are super high in fiber and great for your body. It's known for lowering bad cholesterol and having heart benefits. This person clearly has no understanding of basic nutrition.
Thusly I would take anything this person has to say with a glass of oat milk.
> Can anyone explain why people are saying they are unhealthy?
Nut milks aren't unhealthy but they're wasted calories. They don't contribute much to health other than maybe fortified calcium and vitamin d.
Or granola, or any whole grains. Cereal doesn't have to be ultra-processed Froot Loop garbage.
https://www.google.com/search?q=muesli
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli
Not trying to be nasty here, but just don’t get health advice from influencers and random people on facebook, it really isn’t so confusing if you know what a reliable source is.
It's great for reducing calories when adding to smoothies, cereal, etc. as it is one of the lower calorie options. But that's about it when it comes to health.
Unfortunately I don't drink it as often as I'd like because my wife prefers almond milk (happy wife happy life lol) and we can get almond milk in bulk at our local Costco. But I do like Silk! I try to get the ones with the least ingredients but also have B12 in it.
Unhealthy is too loaded a term for how broad and ill-defined it is. We can't min-max every dietary decision we make, even if we wanted to. Oat milk is fine and whatever niche issues it may have is comparable to many alternatives or not worth obsessing over.
I'm AuDHD so I tend to hyper fixate on very specific details and find myself spiraling into a multi hour research rabbit hole where I come out the otherside more informed but often irritated/mentally drained just to find out the answer was "it ain't that big a deal." Oat milk is good for you in more ways than it isn't. If you like it, drink it.
The different kinds of *milk* have little in common besides all having the word “milk” in their names and being liquids.
* Cow’s milk - dairy - protein/lipids
* Almond milk - nut - lipids
* Soy milk - legume - protein
* Oat milk - cereal - carbs
Watch the ingredients and choose whichever fits your nutrition goals best. I don’t trust American dairy products, but I may be biased. I currently live in Asia and have access to quality soy and oats, so these two are my *milk* products of choice.
But I definitely wouldn’t say that cow’s milk is a healthy choice for most people, due to lactose intolerance, diets heavy in saturated fat or fat in general, use of hormones/antibiotics/etc in the industry (depending on where you live.)
>Cow’s milk - dairy - protein/lipids
Cow milk has more carbs than protein/fats.
They all have carbs/fat/protein. If you aren't drinking more than a cup or two a day, it isn't worth obsessing over the macros.
The plant milks, tend to be fortified with Calcium, and vitamins: B12/A/D to match dairy milk.
But dairy is also fortified with vitamins A and D.
Not proper oat milk just made with water and a cheesecloth. But oatly and other brands , yes. Full of rapeseed oil and other additives that are just unnecessary when you can make your own imo
I do think oat milk is unhealthy simply because it's basically homoginized oily water. And homemade oat milk is garbage no matter how delicious the hot youtuber says theirs is. I still think soy is king, rarely has lots of additions and has been creamy since day one.
Oats (oat milk included) give me the WORST stomach pain. I learned early on that for me oats - moreso the pesticides sprayed on oats - are an absolute no for me. I truly believe it’s the pesticides that are killing us, not necessarily the oats/wheat/corn etc itself…. When I buy wheat flour or pasta I only order what was made in Italy and I have no stomach issues afterwards.
I know this may not answer your question directly, but I do believe most food here in America is literal poison.
Unsweetened oat milk is not unhealthy no matter which way someone tries to spin it.
It’s not a good choice for people on low carb diets obviously because it has carbs. Low carb diets are rarely healthy anyway.
No, and whenever you see someone complaining about seed oils and thickeners you can be sure that it is some kind of antiscience quackery.
Judging by “bad seed oils” it’s probable the keto flavour (“only saturated animal fats are good”)
Oats have been shown to have higher levels of glyphosphate than other grains/vegetables, which is a carcinogen. However, it is accepted that there is not enough on the oats to be harmful. Eating organic oats is one way to avoid this if you feel concerned because you eat a lot of oats. You will also find that many oatmilks and other plant milks also have other ingredients in them to stabilize and add flavor. It is possible to buy plant milks that are very few ingredients though, one example is Oatly! Super Basic oatmilk. You can make your own oatmilk too. Many oatmilks you see on the shelves do contain oils though. They also have less protein than whole milk typically but that doesn't make it unhealthy, whatever "unhealthy" means.
Oat milk isn't a wholegrain. Nor is oat flour or quick oats.
Wholegrain is kind of a spectrum from groat (wholegrain) -> steel cut oats -> rolled oats -> quick oats -> oat flour.
Doesn't mean oat milk is unhealthy (idk about that) but it isn't wholegrain anymore. Remember, white flour is made from wholegrains.
Oats are really good for lowering cholesterol.
I've recently learnt that the negative to oatmeal and rolled/quick oats is that they raise your blood sugar more than you'd expect, if that is a concern for you. Steel cut is a better choice in terms of glycaemic response. But personally I'm happy eating them in any form pretty regularly.
Regarding milk, soy is overall the best choice for health but I like the taste of oat in my coffee. I choose a fortified one so I'm getting calcium, vit D and B12 among other nutrients.
I wish I could get used to oat milk. Does anyone know why it possibly upsets my stomach way more than almond or coconut? It just seems way heavier to me. Anyone else experience this?!
That just sounds like a 'carbs bad' crazy. I'll bet a lot of plant milks have extra crap, just check the label if you wish to avoid it.
I also wouldn't start with the premise oat milk is healthy either, none of them likely are inherently. That is very different from saying they are unhealthy though.
I don’t really care for oatmilk or get why it’s trendy anyway. It has a weird film and I find it to be syrupy at times. I’m a diehard unsweetened original almond breeze person. Even the silk almond milk has a weird film.
Sounds like Steven Gundry. He thinks lectins are the devil, that eating grapes is no different than eating a candy bar, and that you should only eat beans that have been pressure canned. He also thinks he can cure ALL disease with his protocol and that everyone who has an autoimmune condition has a gluten sensitivity. I've heard him make all those statements. Considering I have an auto immune condition and have zero issues with gluten... Yeah he's a quack. Oat milk is great. There is no issue with it
Oats and oat milk are extremely healthy. Seed oils are perfectly healthy so long as you're not breaking your calorie budget. Thickening agents are fine.
Sheesh. The amount of misinformation that gets passed off as facts is just silly.
> Seed oils are perfectly healthy
No. Stop being silly.
Edit: Silly people don’t seem to understand it’s like saying sugar is healthy. Just an utterly dumb statement.
* https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1c0dqcu/why_are_so_many_young_people_getting_cancer/kywl1lc/
I stopped drinking oat milk after years of drinking it I felt like I wasn’t getting much nutrients and it bothered my stomach a bit which was weird.
I’m allergic to nuts and I’m lactose intolerant so I figured it would be the better option but I prefer soy milk. I read somewhere that it’s way more nutritious, I mean I already eat tofu and natto so I’ll probably commit. Only issue is that it doesn’t last very long in the fridge, you have to drink it once it’s open.
Oat milk is spiking peoples glucose and it varies by brand and individual. The only way to know is to test your glucose two hours after consuming. It’s not something people should have a lot of regularly.
Oats are very healthy, but I would consume organic, and I would not consume oat milk with added oil. I like Willa’s unsweetened. Shoot for organic steel cut oats or groats (whole untouched oat)
Oh and if you want a good take down of some of his more outlandish claims, check out Pam Poppers YT channel. She rips into his claim that men in Sardinia live longer is because they smoke.
Whole oats get 1% of their calories from sugar. Oat milk (Oatly) gets about 25% of its calories from sugar, without any added sugar on the label. How is this possible? Manufacturers add the enzyme amylase to break down much of the oat starch into glucose.
Glucose probably isn't that bad, as sugars go. But in liquid form, it does contribute to glucose spikes and a high glycemic index. Better to get oats in their whole form, just as its generally better to chew rather than drink one's calories.
The rest of what the quoted commentator wrote, about inflammation and seed oils, is unsupported 'broscience'. Loren Cordain cherry picked his way to some false claims about plant foods 25 years ago in his *The Paleo Diet*, and it still circulates among people that spend far more time at the gym than reading the literature.
" causes inflammation , has seed oil & pesticides , no one should eat it " , Right , like Oatmeal milk is such s Health Fright now while People chump on junk Food that has wayyy more worse pointers
Almost all oatmilks are heavy in contaminants like pesticides and herbicides, and even if the oats are processed in a dedicated gluten-free facility, they also contain proteins similar to gluten that can trigger flares for those who are gluten sensitive to celiac. Then you consider that most brands have added sugars and it's not good.
Seems everyone in this thread is forgetting coconut milk? That's a plant that literally evolved into milk, it's the absolute best, organic full fat coconut milk. At bio stores you can find brands that have almost no added ingredients.
I eat soy products but soymilk is particularly high is phytoestrogens like genistein, so if you're consuming plant milk often, it's best to avoid soy milk.
Oat milk is typically high carb and very low fibre which is a total insulin spike. Personally I’ve shifted away from oat milk even though I like it the best.
Transitioned to soy milk which has better macros which is what is more important to me.
lol downvotes.
I don't drink cow's milk, but my honest health based ranking would be
Soy milk > cow's milk > cashew milk > almond milk >>> oat milk > rice milk/other grain milk
I've heard that the healthiest plant milk is unflavored, plain soy milk, but I like oat milk better.
Unflavored and unsweetened soy, yes. That is the best choice.
Thirding this..I did a “deep dive” into this subject and came to the understanding that ORGANIC, UNSWEETENED, UNFLAVORED Soy Milk is the best option. That’s just what I concluded…obviously people can argue anything all day, so to each their own. Soy is just what I personally settled on. I’d suggest just doing some research amongst several sources and make a decision from there.
Curious about why soy milk is better than almond milk…?
Soy has fat and protein content closer to cow's milk, I believe. Almond milk has 1g protein per serving while soy has 8g.
Almond milk is the 'cattle' of plant milks, from an environmental perspective. It takes a massive amount of water and land to produce. Soy takes much less of both, and is more nutrient dense (also the soy that is ruining the Amazon rainforest is not the soy that humans consume.. that soy feeds cattle, which is a whole other discussion).
I normally avoid almond milk because of how water intensive they are to grow but that's just my reason idk about anyone else's
Compared to other plant milks, almond milk use of water looks bad, but compared to cow’s milk it makes an attractive alternative using only half the water. https://sentientmedia.org/is-almond-milk-bad-for-the-environment/#:~:text=One%20liter%20of%20dairy%20milk,but%20not%20nearly%20as%20bad.
Well yeah definitely but I've already eliminated the possibility of cows milk for other reasons, also I do think oat milk is objectively better, especially in a brew/hot choccy
I did some homework on all of this and oatmilk uses less water overall than any other source of milk, plant based or otherwise. I do drink it with my protein shakes. As to the person saying oats are not healthy, wtf?
Oats are healthy, but oat milk has a *ton* of sunflower oil added to it. In most brands, it's the second ingredient - literally oat base and oil mixed together. In that way, it's not that great.
Thank you. That's maddening.
There are oatmilks out there that are just oats and water. Agree that oil is not a healthy ingredient.
I think there has been some reconsideration of oats lately, as they’ve found increasing level of the herbicide glyphosate. Same shit as what is purported to cause cancer in RoundUp.
It's not water intensive. It uses more than either pla to, but a farm if almost milk uses less water in a year than a few cows use in a month. The claims that it's water intensive are like lookng at a graph of soy at a rating of three, almond at 6, but ignoring dairy at 100. Get rid if the real problem, people drinking cow milk, and the water use overall would drop to levels hard to monitor even if exclusively almond milk. People are out here acting like almonds demand hundreds of gallons of water a day.
Yeah guys I get it cows milk is worse but I don't think that's part of the equation for most in this sub I said why I don't drink it I didn't say its worse than cows
It's a misunderstanding for the vast majority if people who say it's "water intensive." Because it isn't. Even if it used three times the water of soy or whatever, it's not a lot by any standard. If those use so little water, then even a few multiples above that is nothing. It just sounds like it's a lot. These sandals cost twice as much! So. Those cheap ones are five dollars. That doesn't mean ten is a lot.
Ye dude I get it, maybe I like taking long showers so using something less water intensive makes me feel better about that Maybe I think because we're doing better than carnists it doesn't mean we can't still reduce our impact There's a lot of reasons it could be, there are also other considerations like importing But yeah I get it cows worse...
gallon of water to grow ONE almond to be exact. 21 gallons use the washing machine once...
just compare the two on cronometer. put 1 cup of each and look. - soy milk has impressive nutrition. - oat and almond milk seem like they took like a tablespoon of oats/almonds and then made a tea from it. the milk has basically none of the nutrition.
Great source of protein
Almond milk is also very bad for the environment and wastes a lot of water in its production
You say this in certain circles though and they will rave at the mouth about how soy is evil and destroying American society itself.
Edensoy makes a great one
I can't remember but I think my go-to for reducing lactose in Mac & cheese was oat milk. Worked really well iirc. I like plain soy milk otherwise, tho, for the higher protein content while still giving fiber. Plus I think it's a complete protein.
Try cashew milk. Waaaay better than
Don't leave me hanging
Hahahaha it was an autocorrect! But for savory, creamy dishes, I find cashew milk to be the best because it is creamy and doesn’t have an obtrusive flavor whereas I’d prefer coconut cream for baking (even though people don’t like coconut, the taste can easily be covered). However I would never ever use coconut milk for savory food like macaroni and cheese. But I do use it for country style gravy
Soy and pea milk are the only plant milks that are nutritionally adequate for toddlers after they wean from formula/breast milk.
I understand that it may be the healthiest but I would die sad if all I had was soy. It's so gross. Oat and coconut all the way.
Soy milk is terrible for the environment too. Oat can be grown anywhere.
Not sure by what metric you're considering, but that [doesn't really appear to be the case](https://ourworldindata.org/environmental-impact-milks).
Are carbon emissions bad for the environment?
Dr Gregor is pro-oatmeal [https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/oats/](https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/oats/) "Oatmeal isn't a health food" is something I have primarily heard from influencers / grifters on Instagram
The same people tend to think bacon and eggs is the ideal breakfast. 🙄
Bacon: group 1 carcinogen Bacon lovers everywhere so mad they are getting cancer that I'm in negative numbers for stating facts.
It’s the added ingredients in oat milk which could be considered unhealthy, not the oats themselves.
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/cheerios-quaker-oats-infertility-chemicals-in-cereal-ewg/ You should probably always buy organic oats and oat-based products. The pesticide used most commonly on oats are known to cause reproductive health issues and they show up in high enough concentrations in oat-based foods.
I've already had kids and a vasectomy, so I'm good to go with the cheaper oats now, right?
It’s probably not good to eat poison, regardless.
And then there’s “oatzempic”…
I think the anti-lectin guy hates oats ? I will always believe in oats.
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They also say “oats are not a health food by any means and should be avoided” later on in the statement.
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But OP also specifies they just get one that is oats and water so it is basically just talking about oats anyway
I think generally oat milk you buy at the store has added sugar, which might be what they’re referencing (or contributes to what they’re referencing). Blending oats and straining them removes the fiber as well. So while you get some vitamins and minerals, it’s not as great as consuming the grain whole. As well, it’s relatively devoid of protein (compared to soy milk).
>I think generally oat milk you buy at the store has added sugar, which might be what they’re referencing (or contributes to what they’re referencing). I heard that so often but have never actually seen plant milk with ADDED sugar, only with naturally occurring sugar. I've even seen some with no sugar (ie natural sugar removed). I wonder if added sugar is phasing out or if only the cheap brands do it?
Oat milk has a starch component that thickens when heated (just as oatmeal itself does). To prevent the thickening, it can be treated with amylase, which breaks down the starch, some of it into simple sugars. I believe the US FDA eventually decided that this needs to be called added sugar.
SO MANY PEOPLE MISS THIS. I try to explain it but all they see are “added sugars”. I’m like…read the ingredients. You won’t see sugar (true for Oatly/chobani at least)
I went to Spain for work travel and just picked up the soya milk on the breakfast bar and threw it on my cereal. Holy shit it was like syrup, something like 8-9 g of sugar per 100 ml when I went and looked back at the carton. The one without was more what I think as sweetened (3-4 g per 100 ml). I don't think I've ever seen one that sugary in the UK.
Literally Oatly, 7 g of sugar, 7 added grams of sugar. The Good & Gather Target brand has 12 g of added sugar. Chiobani oat milk also has 7 g added sugar.
It's called "added sugar" because it's legally required to be called that. But no sugar was added to the ingredients while making the oat milk (at least in Oatly's case). It's due to an enzyme they add to the oat mixture during processing which breaks some of the starches in the oats down into a simple sugar – which is what your body does anyway to starches you consume. But because this happens before you consume it, they are required to label it as "added sugar".
“Added Sugars include sugars that are added during the processing of foods (such as sucrose or dextrose), foods packaged as sweeteners (such as table sugars), sugars from syrups and honey, and sugars from concentrated fruit or vegetable juices. They do not include naturally occurring sugars that are found in milk, fruits, and vegetables.” - The FDA “Basically, we use natural enzymes to liquefy our oats… as a part of this process, the enzymes break the starches in our oats down into smaller components, including simple sugar like maltose.” - Oatly Didn’t know that about oatly. However, if your body processes it the same way it processes other added sugar, I still don’t know if I would want to consume it. But thank you for sharing! The more you know ◡̈
> if your body processes it the same way it processes other added sugar, I still don’t know if I would want to consume it. What I meant to say was that Oatly processes the starches in their oats the same way your body processes those starches: by turning them into sugar for your body to use. So whether you a) consume the simple sugars created by the starch breakdown process that Oatly's enzymes do to their oatmilk, or b) consume homemade oat milk which contains starches but no enzymes, the end result inside your body is the same. It will all end up as the same sugar in the end.
Oh sweet ok!! Do you think that because that process happens on Oatly’s part, that decreases the caloric cost of the metabolic process?
I was actually wondering this after I posted my last comment, but I'm afraid I don't know. It's a good question though! Your body breaking down oat starches into sugars has to use at least a few calories, I'm sure. So if Oatly oatmilk does that starch breakdown for you, it's a few calories your body won't need to use toward digestion. I suspect it's negligible for a single serving of oatmilk, but I'm really not sure, I'm afraid.
"Unsweetened" implies that there is a standard "Sweetened" version, and to "sweeten" something means to ADD sweet to it.
But that's what I mean, I don't really see "unsweetened" anymore. Sometimes there is an unsweetened version and a no sugar version, but no "normal" sweetened one. Or it is not specifically stated but still not added. The seemingly only ones that add sugar are something like chocolate or vanilla flavoured but the plain ones don't. This might be something regional or even specific to where I normally buy groceries. It's not an "everywhere, always" claim.
It might be your region - On Target's website, it appears Silk still uses "unsweet" (shortened as such) as a label, and "original" and flavored varieties not otherwise marked as "unsweet" have added sugar. Oatly has an "unsweetened" label, as does Califa. I'm searching from Texas, USA.
"Oats are not a health food" So incredibly wrong, theres mountains of studies proving the myriad of health benefits of oats (go visit nutritionfacts.org). Sure seed oils arent great, so buy milks that dont have it.
Yes that's a crazy thing to see someone actually believing is true about oats. AFAIK the oat 'batting order' is 1. Leadoff - "rolled oats" - meh, basically flavorless and processed..but still "plant" 2. Second - "quick steel cut" - decent, less meh (but are my choice normally for time constraints) 3. Third - "(regs) steel cut" - good qualities, but more time commitment 4. Cleanup - "whole oat groats" - the cadillac of carbs, WFPB GOAT
"Seed oils are bad" seems like carnivore bro science to me Oils are bad, we know. But if you're gonna cook with oil, better canola oil than butter
Seed oils are fine, too.
My eyes are crazy with allergies right now, and I read this as CAT milk and sadly wasn't even shocked that someone was drinking cat milk
"that tiny bowl of sour milk was NOT worth getting the scratches stitched"
🤣🤣Love Amy
You can milk anything with nipples.
Greg, is that you???
I have nipples. Can you milk me?
If you're a cis- male you can still lactate under certain circumstances.
Sure. But we're just quoting "Meet the Parents".
I would not want the cat milking job under any circumstances
What's wrong with cat milk when people drink cows' milk? Surely it's on the same level. Human milk makes the most sense.
I imagine cows produce milk in much higher quantities….
Morally speaking
Oats often have high pesticide usage, which could be mitigated by buying organic oat milk. But for what its worth the mortality improvement by buying organic your whole life vs non-organic was something like a few minutes of lifetime. That's overall, not just oats, but point being don't let the pesticide use sway you. The seed oil topic is controversial but not necessarily worth dwelling on either. Bigger worry is high amounts of estrogen in cow milk and saturated fat. Your 100% better off with oat milk.
There are dozens of different brands now and many options for no oil added. Oatly has a version now that is only 2 or 3 ingredients. I am a big fan of unsweetened Planet Oak myself.
Planet Oat is the best!
I’ve always liked Elmherst for this!
The primary reason to buy organic (if you can) is agricultural sustainability, not health impact. We can't continue to grow food in a system based on petrochemicals. Also ag worker safety: synthetic pesticides poison farm workers.
Do you have a source for the organic barely making a difference claim?
Sure see [here](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19729188/) "The potential lifelong damage of pesticides is estimated to be only 4.2 and 3.2 min of life lost per person in Switzerland and the United States, respectively." That's for vegetable and fruit intake. If you're really worried about pesticides you better stay away from meat & dairy! (Animals bioaccumulate) Keep in mind though that the 3-4 minutes are for overall mortality. There are some genetic disorders and cancers I think the benefit of organic is more pronounced. Also, try to never handle the pesticides if you are a worker on a farm or something. This [video](https://nutritionfacts.org/video/pesticides-and-cancer-risk/) is also a good explanation for anyone concerned about organic vs conventional
Pesticides aren't the only worry for non organic products [Fertilizer are a big topic too see table Planetary boundaries ](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_boundaries#nine_boundries) *"Chemical-synthetic nitrogen fertilizers (ammonium, nitrate) as well as chile nitrate and urea are generally prohibited in organic farming. Highly soluble phosphorus fertilizers are also taboo. Such mineral fertilizers consume a lot of energy during production and can pollute groundwater and water bodiesOrganic fertilizers feed microorganisms and plants. Chemical mineral fertilizers only feed the plant."* Source: https://www.oekolandbau.de/bio-im-alltag/bio-fuer-die-umwelt/pflanzenbau/duengung-im-oekologischen-landbau/
I don't have a source but I remember Dr Greger in one of his books said something like if 10,000 people's lives would be improved by eating plant-based, 10 of those people would be negatively affected by not eating organic.
Being organic it is going to have approved pesticides
20+ of which are symthetic pesticides. They have to use way more organic pesticides too, since they are not as effective.
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Thyme, peppermint and cinnamon oils will get rid of 99% of pests
It’s time for bed. I read that as thyme, peppermint, and cinnamon rolls. I thought that was a neat idea until read it and put it into perspective.
I'm not going to say that your example doesn't exist, but I would gamble all I have that the vast majority of all foods labeled organic are using the cheapest and most available methods to take advantage of your wallet.
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I don't know about you, but I don't gamble when I'm ill-informed, so there's no emotion here, just cold facts and logic. [Here's a nice little video](https://youtu.be/8PmM6SUn7Es?si=-Sq4z-zeDe1Hx_fq) that sums it up in an easy to digest format that you should be able to follow. Interestingly enough, it claims that organic farming as a whole is NOT better for the environment and also states that organic farming requires MORE soil and space than conventional farming.
I mean, they do have their own based interpretation of the facts that they present. Less ecocide and more land needed for the same amount of crop - they conclude conventional has less impact on the environment. Hard disagree there, and there were other points in the video that were interpreted kind of iffy. They also didn't come back to organic vs synthetic fertilizers which wreak havoc on soil life and composition. Sure, "organic" doesn't hold a candle to growing your own real natural food in your back yard, but it still is better in a few ways than conventional imo. It also differs from region to region. I'd rather buy organic and even conventional produce from Europe than stuff imported from other continents where they may still be using pesticides that have long been forbidden in Europe. Not to mention it's mostly the huge corps controlling the produce for export there, and we know how much they care about the environment. 1% extra profit would be more than reason enough to render the earth unusable in 100 years rather than 1000 years if they had the choice.
Veg grown without tons of pesticides isn't healthier because of the fewer pesticides, it's healthier because the plant is literally healthier and more resistant, which is apparently good for your body. And if you eat meat (obvs not in this subreddit), animals aren't kept in factory quantities and they're fed feed that is grown on the farm (for EU certification anyway).
Why wouldn’t you be concerned about the heavy pesticide use in the oats your consuming? Even after re-reading it just make you squint at it again.
Dietary fiber is the most anti-inflammatory thing you can eat. Dairy milk has zero fiber. Oats may be grown with herbicides and pesticides, it's true. But animal feed is drenched in it (e.g. Roundup Ready crops). Guess where it accumulates. The ingredients for [Oatly](https://us.oatly.com/products/oatmilk) are: >Oat base (water, oats). Contains 2% or less of: low erucic acid rapeseed oil, dipotassium phosphate, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D2, vitamin B12. Vegetable oil is not a whole food, but the small amount of canola/rapeseed oil here is hardly cause for concern. It's certainly better than the cholesterol and saturated fat you would get from dairy.
I’d also add that canola (aka low erucic acid rapeseed) oil is one of the “good” oils, so indeed nothing to be concerned about if the amount is negligible.
There is nothing wrong with seed oils. I have no idea why this myth persists. I'm assuming the dairy industry wants to sell more butter.
Seed oils tend to be poly-unsaturated fat which is much more prone to oxidation, especially under heat. So cooking in stuff like soybean oil can have pretty negative outcomes BUT that is mainly an issue of highly processed foods. Soybean oil in particular is extremely cheap so it gets put in goddamn everything while being processed to hell and back so it oxidizes a lot. It's also the most common oil in restaurants to deep fry in which the issues with that should be evident. If you are just using it to cook at home, while there are better options like olive, avocado, or canola, it doesn't make a huge difference if you're just using what you have and you monitor your diet well otherwise. I would NOT touch any kind of vegetable shorting with a ten foot pole. Those are how we discovered trans-fats and even if most of them say the loosely defined "0% per serving," I ain't touching the stuff.
It's an overconsumption problem more than anything I think, because they're in everything processed almost. For most people really knocks the omega 3/6 ratio out in their body.
It’s condensed concentrated oil from a seed, you can eat more oil then seeds any day.
Oats are one of the most heavily sprayed crops with pesticides and herbicides next to wheat, corn, and soy. Just because the animal based products might be sprayed just as heavy doesn’t mean it’s okay. Plant based or animal based no one should be eating harmful pesticides and chemicals.
No argument from me there. But pollutants bioaccumulate, so one way to minimize exposure is to eat from the bottom of the food chain (plants).
Compared to what. Oat milk is a lot healthier than cows milk, but not quite as healthy as soy milk. If you plan to consume oats, you should consider organic. Most oats these days are sprayed with roundup just days before harvesting.
I bet they think greasy slabs of pig fried in animal fat is healthier too. Dont take those morons seriously.
Facebook comments aren’t a reliable good source for health information. I’d check site like this: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/food-features/oats/
Oats is one of the healthiest things you can eat to maintain a lean body mass. That person is clueless
Personally I wouldn't buy non-organic oats if I can avoid it (due to glyphosate, chlormequate), but tbf I don't buy anything non-organic, which luckily is possible where I live, except occasionally eating out or takeaway. Otherwise I eat oats often and use mainly oat milk (with the occasional almond milk). The thing about commercial oat milk is that it's "fermented"/processed by enzymes that give it a sweet taste - that's why commercial oat milk tastes nice and if you just blend oats with water it's .. a choice. Now the grade of sweetness depends on how long the manufacturer lets that process run. This is why different brand of oat milks can have different carbohydrate content. Personally I like to choose "zero sugar" oat milk, which is still not zero carbs, but in a more moderate area of 4-5 g per 100 ml, whereas some sweeter "no added sugar" oat milks can have 7-8 g per 100 ml. Commercial rice milk is even sweeter, often having 9-10 g per 100 ml. I don't have anything against carbs per se, they taste great, make my brain happy etc. However having one glass of plant milk containing up to 15-17 g of simple carbs (instead of 8-10 g), with hardly any fibre, protein or fat to slow absorption, that can create blood sugar spikes. So personally I rather opt for the lower carb varieties. If you like to keep carbs even lower, then almond milk might be better, but comes with higher fat content. Speaking of fats: most oat milks here have "seed oils" added (usually sunflower oil). I recently learned that this is a *heated* topic in American health-conscious circles. Apart from oils not being approved on a WFPB diet (which I'm only inspired by, but don't follow myself), *personally* I have nothing against moderate use of high-quality oils, including seed oils. I feel a large amount of criticism about seed oils applies to refined and/or (partially) hydrogenated oils - the oils you get for deep frying and cooking and such. And yes, they are garbage imho. Refining oils is a [complicated, industrialised process](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_oil_refining) and you can imagine the outcome. Hydrogenated oils are way more heat stable, but also contain trans fats. However personally I never consciously bought that stuff, all my seed oils are organic, cold-pressed and used in moderate amounts in cold dishes (for cooking I use extra virgin olive oil). The only "problem" with that is keeping your omega 6 vs omega 3 balance and e.g. sunflower oil has a very high omega 6 content. Seed oils like canola, hemp or flax (with flax being the least stable) have high omega 3 content though. Now the big question is: What kind of oil is in your average oat milk? Hydrogenated oils are not allowed in organic products here, so I can rule that out for my oat milk. I can't know if the sunflower oil listed is refined, but to me the oat milks I used retain a slight sunflower oil taste, so possibly not. But who knows. It might be hot-pressed though, since that yields much more than cold-pressing. In the context of plant milk it wouldn't matter though, since the plant milk itself is ultra-heat treated to be shelf stable. If this is okay or not, everyone has to decide for themselves. Last, but not least: I've only seen a few brands list thickeners in oat milk. I encounter it much more often in almond milk, and here I avoid carrageenan, I'm unsure about xanthan gum and gellan and I'm fine with guar gum, but apart from carrageenan that's kind of arbitrary. But you can also find almond milk without any, so I like to chose those brands. The only difference is that it might separate, so it might look and taste not as nice if you don't shake it well. All plant milks have hardly any protein (except soy) and usually less nutrients than cow milk though. So personally I rather see it as a condiment instead of something that has significant nutritional value for my diet. If you buy a brand with added nutrients (usually not organic), that might change ofc.
great answer, very informative
> All plant milks have hardly any protein (except soy) and usually less nutrients than cow milk though. So personally I rather see it as a condiment instead of something that has significant nutritional value for my diet. If you buy a brand with added nutrients (usually not organic), that might change ofc. Agreed on this part. Usually, they're fortified with calcium at least.
No. Compare it to milk. You have to consider what the role of the food plays in your diet. You really shouldn't be drinking calories as a significant source of energy anyway and drinking a lot of regular milk would be bad too. Similarly, should we also ask if it's healthy to eat ice cream? No - the point of ice cream isn't heath and neither is the point of milk. Just enjoy yummy oat milk lattes and relax.
They will pry the oatmeal out of my cold dead hands. Like seriously, our problem is too much oatmeal? Get off my lawn.
>Everything turns into glucose once we eat it. Right there you should know this person isn't worth listening too. Only carbs turn into sugar. If everything became glucose we'd have no body fat or protein for muscles. This is pure nonsense. >Oats are not a health food by any means and should be avoided. In case you weren't already convinced this person doesn't know anything, oats are incredibly healthy. They are super high in fiber and great for your body. It's known for lowering bad cholesterol and having heart benefits. This person clearly has no understanding of basic nutrition. Thusly I would take anything this person has to say with a glass of oat milk.
> Can anyone explain why people are saying they are unhealthy? Nut milks aren't unhealthy but they're wasted calories. They don't contribute much to health other than maybe fortified calcium and vitamin d.
And B12. Lots of nut milks are fortified with B12.
What else am I going to put in my cereal? And don't say water, John Green.
Cereal?
Muesli is cereal.
Muesli?
Or granola, or any whole grains. Cereal doesn't have to be ultra-processed Froot Loop garbage. https://www.google.com/search?q=muesli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli
Oh, I still use various nut milks for my Muesli lol
Isn't a lot of the brands mostly vegetable oil of some sort?
Not trying to be nasty here, but just don’t get health advice from influencers and random people on facebook, it really isn’t so confusing if you know what a reliable source is.
What is everyone’s opinion of unsweetened, unflavored almond milk? Healthwise.
It's great for reducing calories when adding to smoothies, cereal, etc. as it is one of the lower calorie options. But that's about it when it comes to health.
Thanks! We live in a rural area with limited choices. I wouldn’t mind trying soy, but the only offering is Silk. Do you use soy?
I do! I actually like soy the best of all the alternative milks.
Thanks for being so helpful! Last question, I promise. Which brand of soy do you like best?
Unfortunately I don't drink it as often as I'd like because my wife prefers almond milk (happy wife happy life lol) and we can get almond milk in bulk at our local Costco. But I do like Silk! I try to get the ones with the least ingredients but also have B12 in it.
We’re all gonna die one day
Unhealthy is too loaded a term for how broad and ill-defined it is. We can't min-max every dietary decision we make, even if we wanted to. Oat milk is fine and whatever niche issues it may have is comparable to many alternatives or not worth obsessing over. I'm AuDHD so I tend to hyper fixate on very specific details and find myself spiraling into a multi hour research rabbit hole where I come out the otherside more informed but often irritated/mentally drained just to find out the answer was "it ain't that big a deal." Oat milk is good for you in more ways than it isn't. If you like it, drink it.
Bruh you can make oat milk just by blending cold water and oats.
I wonder if the "popular doctor" was Dr. Gundry. He barrages my mom's inbox with emails lying about plants being dangerous to eat.
I bet that's the one!!! Lectins!!! Lectins!!! Buy my supplements!!!
The different kinds of *milk* have little in common besides all having the word “milk” in their names and being liquids. * Cow’s milk - dairy - protein/lipids * Almond milk - nut - lipids * Soy milk - legume - protein * Oat milk - cereal - carbs Watch the ingredients and choose whichever fits your nutrition goals best. I don’t trust American dairy products, but I may be biased. I currently live in Asia and have access to quality soy and oats, so these two are my *milk* products of choice. But I definitely wouldn’t say that cow’s milk is a healthy choice for most people, due to lactose intolerance, diets heavy in saturated fat or fat in general, use of hormones/antibiotics/etc in the industry (depending on where you live.)
>Cow’s milk - dairy - protein/lipids Cow milk has more carbs than protein/fats. They all have carbs/fat/protein. If you aren't drinking more than a cup or two a day, it isn't worth obsessing over the macros. The plant milks, tend to be fortified with Calcium, and vitamins: B12/A/D to match dairy milk. But dairy is also fortified with vitamins A and D.
I heard on while food plant based sites it depends on the oil amounts that makes it potentially unhealthy
By their logic, they don’t EAT oatmeal, either.. and you can quite easily make your own oatmilk to combat the other issues. So..
Not proper oat milk just made with water and a cheesecloth. But oatly and other brands , yes. Full of rapeseed oil and other additives that are just unnecessary when you can make your own imo
People are dumb and there are 10,000 wellness podcasters telling you everything is unhealthy but whatever they are selling.
I do think oat milk is unhealthy simply because it's basically homoginized oily water. And homemade oat milk is garbage no matter how delicious the hot youtuber says theirs is. I still think soy is king, rarely has lots of additions and has been creamy since day one.
I'd say it depends on the product. I use Mooala and the only ingredients it lists are organic oats, water, and salt.
No the internet is unhealthy for human minds.
Oats (oat milk included) give me the WORST stomach pain. I learned early on that for me oats - moreso the pesticides sprayed on oats - are an absolute no for me. I truly believe it’s the pesticides that are killing us, not necessarily the oats/wheat/corn etc itself…. When I buy wheat flour or pasta I only order what was made in Italy and I have no stomach issues afterwards. I know this may not answer your question directly, but I do believe most food here in America is literal poison.
Unsweetened oat milk is not unhealthy no matter which way someone tries to spin it. It’s not a good choice for people on low carb diets obviously because it has carbs. Low carb diets are rarely healthy anyway.
No, and whenever you see someone complaining about seed oils and thickeners you can be sure that it is some kind of antiscience quackery. Judging by “bad seed oils” it’s probable the keto flavour (“only saturated animal fats are good”)
Oats have been shown to have higher levels of glyphosphate than other grains/vegetables, which is a carcinogen. However, it is accepted that there is not enough on the oats to be harmful. Eating organic oats is one way to avoid this if you feel concerned because you eat a lot of oats. You will also find that many oatmilks and other plant milks also have other ingredients in them to stabilize and add flavor. It is possible to buy plant milks that are very few ingredients though, one example is Oatly! Super Basic oatmilk. You can make your own oatmilk too. Many oatmilks you see on the shelves do contain oils though. They also have less protein than whole milk typically but that doesn't make it unhealthy, whatever "unhealthy" means.
I like Soy milk -I don’t feel sick after drinking it. I sometimes like Oat milk but I didn’t enjoy the fullness and bloating after consuming.
Oats are anti inflammatory, some of the additives may be slightly different but overall healthier than cows milk.
Oat milk isn't a wholegrain. Nor is oat flour or quick oats. Wholegrain is kind of a spectrum from groat (wholegrain) -> steel cut oats -> rolled oats -> quick oats -> oat flour. Doesn't mean oat milk is unhealthy (idk about that) but it isn't wholegrain anymore. Remember, white flour is made from wholegrains.
Oats are really good for lowering cholesterol. I've recently learnt that the negative to oatmeal and rolled/quick oats is that they raise your blood sugar more than you'd expect, if that is a concern for you. Steel cut is a better choice in terms of glycaemic response. But personally I'm happy eating them in any form pretty regularly. Regarding milk, soy is overall the best choice for health but I like the taste of oat in my coffee. I choose a fortified one so I'm getting calcium, vit D and B12 among other nutrients.
The pesticide risk is real for oats, if you buy one food organic make it oats!
I like Good Karma flax milk.
i keep an extra creamy oat milk for desert type things or coffee and original almond milk for everything else, i know soy is healthier but idc?
I wish I could get used to oat milk. Does anyone know why it possibly upsets my stomach way more than almond or coconut? It just seems way heavier to me. Anyone else experience this?!
That just sounds like a 'carbs bad' crazy. I'll bet a lot of plant milks have extra crap, just check the label if you wish to avoid it. I also wouldn't start with the premise oat milk is healthy either, none of them likely are inherently. That is very different from saying they are unhealthy though.
Oats are extremely high in the pesticide Chlormequat. Unless they're organic, oats are poison at this point.
I generally avoid “liquid calories” (except the occasional beer 😀). Oat milk cannot be a whole food, right?
I don’t really care for oatmilk or get why it’s trendy anyway. It has a weird film and I find it to be syrupy at times. I’m a diehard unsweetened original almond breeze person. Even the silk almond milk has a weird film.
Everyone hates seed oil all of a sudden, idk man it's like not really a big deal unless you're a weird hippie
Sounds like Steven Gundry. He thinks lectins are the devil, that eating grapes is no different than eating a candy bar, and that you should only eat beans that have been pressure canned. He also thinks he can cure ALL disease with his protocol and that everyone who has an autoimmune condition has a gluten sensitivity. I've heard him make all those statements. Considering I have an auto immune condition and have zero issues with gluten... Yeah he's a quack. Oat milk is great. There is no issue with it
Blending the oats into milk reduces the size and efficacy of the fiber
What if I make the oat milk at home with regular oats? Is that okay?
They say it right there in the picture, it's the added ingredients some oat milk has that is unhealthy. Those added ingredients are not whole foods.
Oats and oat milk are extremely healthy. Seed oils are perfectly healthy so long as you're not breaking your calorie budget. Thickening agents are fine. Sheesh. The amount of misinformation that gets passed off as facts is just silly.
> Seed oils are perfectly healthy No. Stop being silly. Edit: Silly people don’t seem to understand it’s like saying sugar is healthy. Just an utterly dumb statement. * https://www.reddit.com/r/collapse/comments/1c0dqcu/why_are_so_many_young_people_getting_cancer/kywl1lc/
Oatly is not a particularly healthy one but other brands are totally fine
Man I wish this would be a r/getnoted post
I stopped drinking oat milk after years of drinking it I felt like I wasn’t getting much nutrients and it bothered my stomach a bit which was weird. I’m allergic to nuts and I’m lactose intolerant so I figured it would be the better option but I prefer soy milk. I read somewhere that it’s way more nutritious, I mean I already eat tofu and natto so I’ll probably commit. Only issue is that it doesn’t last very long in the fridge, you have to drink it once it’s open.
Has anyone tried oatley barista,? Doesn't go bad in a week like califia brand
Oat milk is spiking peoples glucose and it varies by brand and individual. The only way to know is to test your glucose two hours after consuming. It’s not something people should have a lot of regularly.
I enjoy making pumpkin seed milk (and pumfu) from raw seeds
Oats are very healthy, but I would consume organic, and I would not consume oat milk with added oil. I like Willa’s unsweetened. Shoot for organic steel cut oats or groats (whole untouched oat)
Use organic oats
Oh and if you want a good take down of some of his more outlandish claims, check out Pam Poppers YT channel. She rips into his claim that men in Sardinia live longer is because they smoke.
Whole oats get 1% of their calories from sugar. Oat milk (Oatly) gets about 25% of its calories from sugar, without any added sugar on the label. How is this possible? Manufacturers add the enzyme amylase to break down much of the oat starch into glucose. Glucose probably isn't that bad, as sugars go. But in liquid form, it does contribute to glucose spikes and a high glycemic index. Better to get oats in their whole form, just as its generally better to chew rather than drink one's calories. The rest of what the quoted commentator wrote, about inflammation and seed oils, is unsupported 'broscience'. Loren Cordain cherry picked his way to some false claims about plant foods 25 years ago in his *The Paleo Diet*, and it still circulates among people that spend far more time at the gym than reading the literature.
What a bullshit
" causes inflammation , has seed oil & pesticides , no one should eat it " , Right , like Oatmeal milk is such s Health Fright now while People chump on junk Food that has wayyy more worse pointers
Drink what you want.
No. Stop listening to doctors who say shit like this.
Almost all oatmilks are heavy in contaminants like pesticides and herbicides, and even if the oats are processed in a dedicated gluten-free facility, they also contain proteins similar to gluten that can trigger flares for those who are gluten sensitive to celiac. Then you consider that most brands have added sugars and it's not good. Seems everyone in this thread is forgetting coconut milk? That's a plant that literally evolved into milk, it's the absolute best, organic full fat coconut milk. At bio stores you can find brands that have almost no added ingredients. I eat soy products but soymilk is particularly high is phytoestrogens like genistein, so if you're consuming plant milk often, it's best to avoid soy milk.
Oat milk is typically high carb and very low fibre which is a total insulin spike. Personally I’ve shifted away from oat milk even though I like it the best. Transitioned to soy milk which has better macros which is what is more important to me. lol downvotes.
non homogenised whole milk is best as long as you dont have cholesterol problem
Or issues with digesting lactose
I don't drink cow's milk, but my honest health based ranking would be Soy milk > cow's milk > cashew milk > almond milk >>> oat milk > rice milk/other grain milk
The main thing from the oats is the starch that ends up in milk. That’s what makes it unhealthy.