Plat milks have exploded in the supermarket lately and one of the biggest trends that we've seen in twenty twenty two is the rise in consumers drinking oat milk. It is all the rage right now. So today on the Nutrition Counch, we take a closer look at three types of oat milk and why some are better than some are not so great. Hi, I'm Leanne Wore and I'm
Cezie Burrow, and it's two of Australia's leading dieticians. We bring you the Nutrition Counch Product Review, a weekly chat on new products and old favorites that you can find at the supermarket. So, Susie, is it just me or are your clients drinking and loving oat milk as well?
Everyone's drinking oat milk, aren't they. It's crazy. Like even my sister, she's all over the oat milk.
So all of my girlfriends are drinking oat milks.
Oh, oh, I know, it's crazy. You know. We've spoken about plat milks before in the rise in general of interest, and I remember about I was a big Housewives fan, and I remember all the Housewives would always have almond milk. But I would agree with you now, it's all about the oat, and it definitely sounds healthier. So I think you've chosen some really good ones to take a really close look at what's going on. Because milk lean is not always milk.
And why okaye should we say? I don't think we're actually allowed to call it milk, are we?
No? I think that it's by definition in the farmers that milk has to come from memory glands. So yes, hence the reason that many manufacturers will play a little bit with that spelling.
All right, Well, the first one we've chosen is a very popular dairy brand who actually does some non dairy alternatives as well, So it's Chabanny. So I went with the Chibarney oat milk barrista addition, so, oat milk, traditionally, compared to the other plant milks, is quite creamy, and I think that's why it's so popular, is that it's actually got a really nice, creamy mouse feel compared to almond milk. To me, I don't like it. I can't tolerate it. It just tastes like water to me, like I
can't do it. Whereas oat milk is actually a nice and creamy. Then if you go one step up and you go a Barrista style oat milk. You're getting a beautiful frosty milk to have with your coffee. So the one we've gone with is the Chabarney oat milk brist at Wilworth. It retails for four dollars sixty this week it's say for three dollars, so it's not what I would call affordable for most people. Like four dollars sixty
for a liter of oat milk is quite expensive. So let's go through the nutritionals and see if they stack up, shall we. So the top ingredient is oat blend, which is a blend of water and whole grain oats. Unfortunately it doesn't say the percentage of oats. And then the next ingredient is canola oil, followed by some minerals. You've
got phosphate, calcium carbonate and another type of phosphate. Then we've got a little bit of sea salt and some thickness and some vitamin A. So this product is fortified with vitamin A, which I find a bit interesting. I thought maybe they do vitamin D and calcium. I'm not really sure why they went with vitamin A fortification, but I am very happy to see that it is fortified with calcium. So the allergens on this one, of course
being oat, are gluten, so it contains wheat. Now, if we go through the nutrition panel, most milks and plant milks are fully standard serving sizes. General serving sizes is two fifty meals or a cup, and then we've got the per hundred milk column as well. So I think we do perving today, SUSI, because two fifty meals most people would use about a cup of milk if they're making a coffee or something like that. So we'll go per serving, which is two fifty meals. There's four servings
in a pack, obviously, being a liter. Energy wise, you've got just under seven hundred kilodules per serving, which is about one hundred and sixty five calories per serving, two point three grams of protein, ten grams of fat, so it's a high fat product. With the addition of the conola oil point five grams of that as saturated fat, you've got fifteen point eight grams of carbohydrate per serve, so about a standard carbohydrate exchange ten point nine grams
of sugar. It's not added sugar, that's just the naturally occurring sugars in the oats, no lactose in that, so it's lactose free product, obviously, being oats not dairy. Two point two grams of fiber, so it's quite interesting to see dietary fiber in something like an oat milk, but it's based on the fact that there's whole grain rolled oats in there. Sodium we've got one hundred and six
milligrants because that's the added sea salt in there. Vitamin A we've got one hundred and thirty eight micrograms about nearly twenty percent of the IRDI, and calcium three hundred milligrams, which is exactly what we want to see in a plant based milk. It's roughly sort of thirty eight percent of the recommended daily intake of calcium, so a really nice amount of fortified calcium in that product. So I don't think it's a bad product overall. I think it's
very standard when it comes to oat milk. It is a higher calorie because I would say that there's a higher percentage of oats and there's a higher percentage of cornola oil compared to some of the oat milks on the market. But I really do like that it's fortified, But for me, it's the price. I think, like, I don't know anyone that's really got four dollars sixty to
spend on a leader of oat milk. I mean, let's be honest, a couple of times a week, if you're having one or two coffees a week, you're probably going to need a couple of liters a week.
Yeah, I'm thinking that it's really appealing to the millennial type market who have more disposable income for this kind of spend on their milk. I certainly think it would affect the family budget. If you had a coffee machine at home and we're making these, I would liken it to equivalent of a slice of bread worth of calories for my clients as a reference point, with that coming
in at fifteen grams of carbohydrate. The sugars, you know, it's interesting looking at plant milks, of course, because when we look at dairy milks, they have the naturally occurring sugars which aren't dissimilar amounts to this. I'm with you, I don't really understand why they would do vitamin A as opposed to vitamin D, which would work so beautifully here The only thing I'm thinking is costs. Perhaps vitamin
D is more expensive. I love the calcium. It's one of the best calcium profiles I've seen of a plant based milk at three hundred milligrams, particularly for our women and postmenopausal women who are looking to have more of a plant based diet or who don't tolerate dairy torn leyem would I use it if my clients loved it, But I think based on budget alone, it wouldn't be my go to recommendation for people. I think everyone is so pushed at the moment with their food budget.
You know.
I just was in the shop and a block of cheese cost eight dollars, you know what I mean, Like, who can afford these huge food prices. But if you have the cash and you really enjoy it and it's your one coffee a day, I wouldn't be against it, but it wouldn't be my go to brand. It's a middle ground. I'd give it a six or seven on
oat milk scale. It's certainly not my preference nutritionally as milk in the role of the diet because the protein is so low, so you know, a quarter of what you would get from a dairy or soy based milk, and the fat is not low. You know, it's equivalent in total fat perserved to full cream milk, although it is not saturated fat. That is an unsaturated fat thanks to the canola. But yeah, it wouldn't be my goat to, but I wouldn't be against it either, so I sort of sit right in the middle.
And I have actually had this one. I remember I was at some sort of conference that had vented. There was a coffee cut there and they had this exact oat milk brand, and I thought, you know what, I'm just going to try it. I'm a soy milk a girl at heart when it comes to my coffee. I love my soy cappuccino. But I did try this, and I must admit it did have a really nice, creamy
mouse feel. And if ever the coffee shop does run out of soy milk, I'm not I have a bit of a lactose intolerance, so I wouldn't normally get my coffee on skim or full cream milk. My next preference would probably be in oat milk, even though I don't love it because it's generally not fortified and as you said, it just doesn't contain the amount of protein that something like a soy milk would naturally contain. So it's not my preference in terms of plant milks, but due to
its popularity, I don't mind this one. I wouldn't say there's anything particularly bad about it, but it does pack a little bit of a punch in terms of calories, Like one hundred and sixty six calories per cup isn't insignificant, especially if you're having two or three coffees a day, So I think that's probably something to bear in mind.
If you're someone who doesn't even use a full cup, if you just get away with a cord of a cup of milk or half a cup of milk, I think definitely this could be a good option for you if you're happy to spend it.
And I was going to say just about the calories, Actually, right, like two coffees a day, if you were having sort of one morning in afternoon, you've eaten equivalent of a meal extra per day, a small meal, so not insignificant.
And then the second brand that I've gone with, I really like this brand from a plant based perspective, as Vitasoid. This is the soy milk brand that I use at home, and I really like the fact that they do some
good fortifications. So side note, all three brands I've chosen today, Susie have three hundred milligrams of calcium in at per serve, so I specifically chose ones that were fortified with calcium because if you've been listening to the Nutrition Capture a while, Susie and I hap on twenty four so about the importance of fortifying your plant based milks with added calciumicular our ladies that are pregnant, greastfeeding, or hitting those perimenopause
and menopause years. It is such an important nutrient. So the second one I've chosen is the Vitasoi prebotic oat milk. So I thought, oh, with my background in gut house, I like a sneaky edition of some probotics into some oat milk. So this Vitazoi one is three dollars sixty for a liter. So again it's not something that I would say is affordable, but the price of milks in general, and dairy and plant based milks are all rising, so it's something that I think maybe we're just going to
have to live with. I do hope the cost of these things comes down. But having said that, you know, three dollars sixty for a liter, it you know, hits into the budget a little bit each week. Put it that way.
One, Yeah, I just came so shocked at how much everything is costing. Maybe we'll do a special budget session. I think.
Yeah. The next one I've chosen was actually on sale this week. It was a dollar fifty off. So the ones I looked at were through the long Life aisle. So none of these are the fresh plant milks or the cold ones. So I think if you are someone who drinks a plant milk, getting these uht ones are a great option because if they're on sale, I would grab six, ten to twelve. Well, the use my dates
are so good on them. Stack them at the bottom of the pantry, out of the sun, and you're going to get a really good amount of shelf life from them. So particularly if you can pick them up one, two, three dollars off fifty percent of I'd be buying a whole cart. And if you can get your hands on them.
I never buy fresh milk. I've been tight for a long time. Land I buy us Team Sport long Life. That's a little tip fromerent Leanna and I long life milk.
And if we both do it, you never we're onto something.
Save yourself a lot of heartache and then it doesn't go off, you know what I mean? You don't have to always be thinking of the milk. Okay for the cup of tea.
So a little tip, all right, Well, the vitosol probotic oat milk. If we look at the ingredients, the first ingredient is filtered water, followed by whole oats a minimum of fifteen percent, So this is a higher percentage of oats than a lot of the other brands on the market, so it actually is naturally a sort of thicker and cream hear as well. Now, the next ingredient is a probotic fiber. So in this one they've used chickory root
fiber for the gut health benefits. So if you are someone with a sensitive tummy or you get a little bit of ibs, you may struggle with something like tricky root fiber. And it's four point five grams per serving, so it's a decent amount per serving. Now they've also added in oat flour, which I think is an interesting addition. Obviously must help with the texture somehow or the thickness of it. Then they've got sunflour, oil and minerals, with the addition of calcium phosphate and a little bit of
sea salt to finish us up. So a pretty good ingredient list, I would say. And they're comparing the Nutrition Information Panel per two fifty mils, so one cup serving, it's seven hundred and forty five kilodules or one hundred and seventy eight calories, so slightly higher than the Chibbani borista oat milk. Actually, protein wire's two point five, so again quite low compared to a standard milk or soy milk.
Fat is five grams per serve, so it's actually it's pretty good for a plant based milk, with saturated being zero point eight grams. Now, if we look at carbohydrates, we've got twenty nine point three grams of carbohydrate per serving, so the equivalent of about two serves of carbohydrates per serving. That's because there's a high percentage of oats, and you've also got the addition of the oat flour in there
as well. Now, no added sugars in this one. All of the carbohydrates are naturally occurring sugars are coming from the oats and the oat flour dietary fiber is six grams made up of four point five grams of prebotic fibers, so the chickery root and one and a half grams of just the fiber from the natural whole oats, got one hundred and thirty milligrams of sodium, and to finish us up, we've got three hundred milligrams of calcium, which is exactly what we want to see in a plant
based milk. So overall, I think a strong nutrient information panel, but it is higher carbohydrate and higher energy. So this would be a great one for like an active person or a growing teenage or somebody who actively needs to gain weight, or somebody who is really looking to up their nutrient intakes for their gut health. I think the
addition of probotics is great. It's funny because oats are a natural prebodic as well, and they're doing a double whammy in terms of adding a little bit extra chickery root fiber in there as well.
You know, I love what this brand does with plant based milks. You know, they've got a fantastic range. Whenever I've done a feature on all of the different varieties and soy they always come up with a really strong profile. I have to be honest, I'm a bit upset that i'd have vitamin D because in general, as I said, when you look through the skews in each category, they
always come up trumps vita soy. And I'm surprised that with that amazing calcium of three hundred milligrams and they've gone to all the effort with the fiber, that it wouldn't have the vitamin D, because then I'd give it, you know, a nine out of ten. So I still really like it. I think it's a great product. I think you summarized it really well in terms of who it would be useful for, because it's not insignificant number
of calories and not a whole lot of protein. Yeah, I think I'd use it perhaps as a carbohydrate load in like a smoothie, and then perhaps you could do some plant based protein powder to get the protein up with this, and then maybe some light fruite. There's a bit of a breakfast mix. But I liked your example. If it's good for people with high energy demands and in particular, you know, a bit of extra fiber through the gut. So yeah, i'd give it, you know, seven
eight out of ten. I like it, And in general, whenever I go to that section of supermarkets, I'm looking at Vita Sooid products for no other reason than I find that I've got a really nice nutritional profile.
In general, I agree. I think out of the plant based milk, so definitely are a standout that brand. It's one of my favorites, all right. And then the third product, so I haven't really chosen any quote unquote bad products this week. I'd probably use and recommend certain ones for certain folks all types of people. And then the last one I've got. Really I was really looking for a well fortified plant milk, so for someone who's really following a plant based lifestyle or a vegan based lifestyle, I
really think some of these key nutrients are important. So I've chosen this so good no added sugar milk. So I've tried this one as well. I must say again it's quite nice. It's got a nice creamy taste, a nice mouthfeel. I've cooked with it as well. I actually made this beautiful vegan pasta. It was like a pumpkin
creamy pasta. So I put into a blender like pumpkin nutritional yeast flakes, some oat milk and a little bit of I think I was added sweet potato, blended it up and used that as a source for my pasta. And it was beautiful. And I used this brand of oat milk in it as well, so I really like the fortification in there. So this was on sale at willas it was two dollars for a one lead to UHT.
Generally it's three dollars fifty, So this would be one of those instances where if I could get my hands on it, I get a whole carton because really like it's a dollar fifty cheap, but you're paying you know, probably forty percent discount, and that mass is not my strong point, but it's a really it's a significant saving. Put it that way. So when we look at the ingredient panel, we've got filtered water followed by milled oats or a minimum of nine percent, so slightly lower percentage.
The Vita soil probodic oat milk had a minimum of fifteen percent oats the so good ones got nine percent. Then we've got vegetable oil minerals with calcium and phosphorus. We've got some acidity regulated, some salt, some antioxidants which is vitamin E, and some added vitamins in there. We've got B twelve, vitamin A, B two, vitamin D, and
B one, so really significant fortification profile. So looking at the nitiation information panel per serving again, so per cup two fifty meals, we've got two fifty one killer jewels or one hundred eight calories, so one of the lowest ones I could see on the market for an oat milk. So one hundred eight calories per per cup is pretty
good from a lower energy perspective. We've got two point one grams of protein, which is fairly standard with the oat milk, three point seven grams of fat, so a lot lower than some of the other oat milk varieties, with only zero point five of that being saturated fat. We've got sixteen grams of carbohydrates, with five point six grams of that being sugar. There's not added sugar, it's naturally occurring sugars. And then this is the interesting part too.
We've got one point one grams of dietary fiber, which is coming from the oats one hundred and eight milligrams of sodium, which is fairly low. All of the plant milks I saw from the oat based section all had or most of them had added salt, so it was quite rare to look at one without salt. Now, potassium is just over six hundred milligrams per serving. We've got one hundred micrograms of vitamin A, it's about thirteen percent
of your IRDI. We've got one point two micrograms of vitamin D about twelve percent of the IRDI B two. We've got about twenty five percent of your RDI B twelve fifty percent. Now, if you're following a plant based or a vegan diet, trying to get in your B twelve is very very difficult. This is a significant amount, fifty percent of your RDII. It's one microgram. We've also got three hundred milligrams of calcium, which is great, and two hundred and fifty milligrams of phosphorus. So it's about
twenty five percent of your RDI. So really really well fortified product and something that if you follow a completely plant based or vegan lifestyle, this is definitely one of the oat milks that I would lean towards.
I really like it. I really like it because I love the fortification, particularly B twelve and vitamin D, which is what we so rarely get in plant based diets, particularly vegans. I like the carbohydrate, like the sugars being particularly low, and the calories are low. It's absolutely the one I would probably recommend just based on the fortification alone, particularly for people who are quite strict with their plant based diet and really didn't include any other dairy and
meat or animal products. So I like it. You know, Sanitarium a great company as well. That's a great price point in current times, you know, to be paying two dollars for a liter compared to you know, double that, if not more for some of the more boutique ones. And you know, it fortify really really well. So yeah, one hundred percent.
I give it.
You know, in terms of oat milk, which I don't love because of the protein, and I know I've said that, but in terms of oat milk, this had been my pick, and I give it, you know, nine out of ten.
Definitely. As I said, I don't think any of the ones we've reviewed today are bad, but this definitely for me tops it.
And the fat's great. You know, the fat is great because you know. So that's a really nice formulation and like you said, from what I've heard, it tastes good, because of course that has to be the thing as well for everyone. And it's no good if it's fantastic nutrition ly if it tastes like rubbish. So I think it ticks that box on flavor as well. And yeah, those nutrients you're not getting them from any other sources, so it's strong on that point alone, definitely.
So that's the nutrition couch recommendation for the week is the Sanitarium So Good Oat Milk no added sugar variety currently on Zayla wil West. So if you do see it on zale Go and grab yourself a couple of bottles of.
That and be mindful that you know these. When we're talking about milks in general, the nutrients that we're looking for are protein, calcium, vitamin D five. It can be nice, but it's not something naturally that we're looking for in our milks. It's kind of a bonus, but it's not something I'm not getting given my clients fiber through their milk. I want it through their vegetables, their fruits, their whole grains.
So you know, the primary standard for me is always about not adding too much extra fat, getting the calcium, vitamin D and where possible protein well.
That brings us to the end of another episode of the Nutrition Couch product review. If you haven't done so already, we would absolutely love if you were to subscribe to the podcast. We'll be automatically delivered into your podcast in box every Sunday and Wednesday. And don't forget that our live event is actually still available on our website. If you're just tuning you you new to the podcast. We talked about hormones, gun health and fat loss in our
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