The concept of “plant milk” has become popular in recent years. Plant-based milk has been branded as a healthy and environmentally friendly concept by many businesses, and its positioning is tit for tat with milk. There are also some people who pay attention to nutrition and are keen on fitness. The words “0 sucrose” and “0 lactose” in the publicity are circled. There are even rumors that animal milk will be replaced by plant-based milk.
image Source: Vision China Qianlong.com
So how about the nutrition of plant milk? Can it really replace animal milk to meet the nutritional needs of the human body?
Strictly speaking, “plant milk” is not “milk” in the true sense. Feng Xu, chief physician of the Nutrition Department of Beijing Aerospace Center Hospital, said that plant milk is made with Beverages made from plant seeds (such as soybeans, walnuts, peanuts, etc.) or fruits (such as coconut, etc.) that contain protein and fat.
“Plant milk is not a new product, but a new concept of hype.” Fan Zhihong, associate professor at the School of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, said in an interview with the media . She pointed out that compared with animal milk, the calcium content of vegetable milk is relatively low, and at the same time, it lacks nutrients such as vitamins A, D, and E contained in cow’s milk and goat milk. In her opinion, such products will enrich the diversity of market products, but if there is no adverse reaction to milk, it may be more beneficial to drink milk for nutritional supply.
Research shows that the main raw materials of plant milk are oat, rice, chestnut, soybean, almond and hazelnut, etc., so it contains certain vitamins, dietary fiber and minerals. substance. However, in terms of calcium, protein, sugar, saturated fat, vitamin D2 and other substances, the nutritional value of plant milk is far less than that of milk.
Also because these proteins are of plant origin, none of them except soy milk can provide all the essential amino acids. Studies have found that the animal protein in milk is closer to the amino acid structure in the human body, so the nutritional value is also higher. Especially for growing children, plant protein cannot replace animal protein.
In addition, plant milk comes from plants, so it has no cholesterol and is low in saturated fat. But that doesn’t mean that plant-based milk is better at preventing obesity than cow’s milk.
Actually, most plant-based milks on the market contain quite a bit of sugar. Epidemiological surveys have shown that under the same conditions, dairy foods are not easy to make people fat, while sugary drinks can make people fat.
Therefore, sugar-sweetened plant milk does not have an advantage over pure milk in preventing obesity. At the same time, some people hope to supplement dietary fiber by drinking plant milk. In fact, to make a drink with a delicate taste, most of the dietary fiber will be removed, so to supplement dietary fiber, it is better to eat nuts such as almonds and peanuts directly.
There are also rumors that people with milk allergies can drink plant milk.
In this regard, Ruan Guangfeng, director of the Science and Technology Department of the Kexin Food and Nutrition Information Exchange Center, explained that if you are allergic to milk protein or lactose, you can drink plants Milk; but if you are allergic to soy protein and almonds, you cannot drink related plant milks. “The key is to find out what the allergen is, and not because you are allergic to cow’s milk, you can safely drink plant milk,” he said.
Source: China Internet Joint Rumor Platform Beijing Science and Technology Newspaper People’s Network Beiqing Network