Our last few plant milk reviews have had such fantastic reviews that today we thought it was time to take a closer look at one of ours. And when I say ours, Leanne the favorite plant milks which is soy. And we've taken a close look at three very popular different kinds of soy milk that you can find in the Ossi supermarkets. Hi I'm Cuzyburrow and Li lean Wood. And as two of us Jays leading dieticians, we bring you the Nutrition Couch Product Review, a weekly chat on
new products and old favorites that you can find in supermarkets. Now, Leanne, we thought it was time to do a whole milk section, and of course you have put your hands up to not only do the plant milk write ups, but particularly soy because I know that that is your choice of when we go for coffee, that's your order, and you've
chosen some good ones. And on an episode, normally we would take turns at running through it, but I'm up in Brisbane actually visiting Leanne, and I don't have my normal tech with me and I literally cannot see these labels they're so small. So Leanne is going to take over and take us through and I will just chirp in with very valuable comments as we go.
All Right, Well, the first one I think I'll say is probably the most popular, or the one that I always see clients gravitate towards. So the one that I would say is in the media a lot, and it's the Bonsoy Long Life soy Milk. So this one is in a one lead UHT pack and it's four dollars eighty so it's very pricey, like nearly five dollars, and it very rarely comes and sale from what I've seen, So I wouldn't exactly say that it was very affordable for a lot of people, but I do know it's
very popular. So I thought we'd start with this one today, Susie. And when we go through the ingredient list, it starts with filtered water, followed by organic whole soy beans minimum of fourteen percent, followed by tapioca syrup, sea salt, jobs tea, and calcium carbonate. Now there's two interesting ingredients in there, one being tapiocis syrup, But I think people gravitate towards slim because there's no easily visible sugar on the label.
But what a lot of people don't realize is that the tapioca syrup is actually sugar and the job's tier. I must be completely honest. I had to google. I was like, what is jobs tear and water is it doing in soy milk? So apparently it's a grain and it's a cereal plant that's native to Southeast Asia. And the grain is like a soft hold grain. It's dried out and then it's sold, and so they use it in things like jeury and some food products as well. So I'm guessing it contributes to a little bit of
maybe the texture of the soy milk. Maybe it makes it blend easier. I'm not entirely sure what it's doing in there, but I imagine it's probably only a very small amount, and there is a little bit of calcium fortification happening, but it's not a huge amount when we
go through the nutrition panel. So this is quite weird because I've never really seen a plant based milk that does any sort of milk milk or plant based milk that doesn't have a serving size of two fifty meals like this one's two hundred mils, which I find very unusual. Have you ever seen that before.
No, but I do wonder because I think bon sooy comes from overseas, doesn't it?
Yeah? Does so.
I think that's got to do with a little bit of the change in values. And I guess we should say that soy milk is probably closest nutritionally to cow's milk. It's just a plant based sauce. So when we look at the nutritional profile, it's quite different from the previous two that we've looked at when we looked at oat and almond milk. Certainly, when we're trying to replicate the nutritional profile of cow's milk and dairy, soy is a
lot closer nutritionally. But it is a bit out of fashion at the moment, isn't it.
Soy?
I haven't had clients say they're using soyfa agent. Well, I'm bringing it back, susy, bringing it back, baby. So should I convert it to two fifteen meals?
I don't really want to compare it via a hundred mills because no offense, no one really has one hundred meals of milk. Most people would have a standard cup of milk if they're making a coffee. Okay, yeah, convert it okay, So basically what we're going to do is I'm going to try my best to convert it with my calculator in hand, because I must admit mass is
not my strong point. So we've got roughly six hundred kilo jewels per serving, so per two fifty meals, which is on average about just about one hundred and forty five calories. Protein Wise, we have about ten grams of protein per serve, which we would expect in a soy milk because so is naturally higher. And then fat wise, we've got about five and a half grams of fat, with very low saturated fat under a gram of saturated fat.
Now carbohydrate, we have nearly fourteen grams of carbohydrate per cup, with about five and a half grams of sugar per cup as well, so that is some of that is added sugar from the Tabiogi syrup as well. Now they have actually listed dietary fiber in here as well, which you're getting from the soybeans that are added in here, and dietary fiber is three and a half grams per cup, so that's actually quite a lot in something like a plant based milk. They've actually also listed potassium as well,
which I find interesting. And potassium per cup is three hundred and fifty milligrams, and calcium I'm not loving Susie because it's quite low. It's only sixty three milligrams per cup, which I just think, I don't know my mind of like why bother well.
I think it's it's interesting because when we look at the Australian plant based milks, if they do contain calcium, they do tend to have that massive two hundred three hundred milligrams, you know, a really decent serve. And I do wonder because this product I'm going to look u where it comes from, is not a low cool product and perhaps oversees the demand for that fortification is not so high because bon Sooi has had that level of
calcium as long as I've been a dietitian. It's always had a little bit, but just not so much celcinc carbonate. So that's probably not our ideal preferred type of calcium. When it comes to absorption factors. It's sort of relatively insignificant, you know what I mean, Like you're getting a little bit, as you would from a serve of leg humes, but it's certainly not replicating a dairy by any way, shape or form. You know this so being quantity is similar
across the board in terms of amounts. But I think my understanding of Bon Soi fans is it's a flavor thing. They love the taste. There's something that tastes amazing. Do you think it has that distinct taste and flavor because of the like the sweetness that's added.
Yeah, I think so. I think it's one of the highest sugar varieties on the on the market, not by anything extravagant, but it's definitely got a couple of extragrams in some of the other brands. So I will admit like it tastes good. I definitely frequent cafes that use Bonsoi as their preferred soy milk of choice, and I
must admit it does make a really nice coffee. But when I'm someone that uses soy milk on a regular basis, like I would some days have one to two cups of milk avls having a bit of cereal having it in my poroadge making it smoothie, than having it in
my coffee as well at home. So I definitely preference another brand which is a lot more affordable and b actually has a required calcium in there for me, particularly when I was pregnant and breastfeeding as well, because it's something a nutrient that we really want to watch out for as calcium. So this isn't my topic. I definitely. I don't think I've ever recommended this for clients, Susie, but I must say it does taste nice and I don't mind it occasionally in you know, in my local coffee shop.
Bond Soy was the first modern Japanese soy milk to arrive in Australia.
Well, there you go. So it's Japanese.
I think it's it is Australia, but they're modeling it on a Japanese profile.
Yeah. The factory is in Victoria. Well, there you go.
It's local, so it's basically seems to be replicating a Japanese recipe.
Or they source the organic soybeans from the US and from Canada. That's why it's got the claims about GMO on there, because I think that, you know, Americans are very concerned about GMO.
Yeah, and I think this product get exported. I think you can buy just once around the world. Yeah, very interesting, But I've always wondered if it was that was why the calcium levels would remain low. But obviously they're following a very distinct formula and if it's not broken, you don't have to fix it. And it's such a popular type of milk, but nutritionally, I wouldn't probably recommend it one because it's way too expensive, like four dollars eighty
for a liter for families. That's that's up there. And I like any kind of soy to have some decent calcium. But you know, if you love it and occasionally have a you know, cafe coffee, but it wouldn't be on my list of ones that I would recommend people buy just based on the calcium alone, agreed. And we don't love added sugar to milk, you know what I mean, It's not ideal.
And then the second one I've gone for is the pure harvest organic soy unsweetened. So I must say that the majority of soy milk's on the market or found in super markets are sweet. It's actually very rare to find an unsweetened one. I had to really go hunting today, Susie, So I hope our listeners appreciate this one, especially very if aoudable will wors At the moment, it's retailing for two dollars for the UHD for the one liter and
is it Australia made in owned company as well. So I was quite impressed with this one, and looking at the ingredient list, it's pretty good. It's filtered water, it's organic whole soy beans, minimum of fifteen percent organic sunflour, oil, plant calcium, and sea salt. And you know, it's got a pretty clean ingredient list per serving, which is two fifty mils so a standard cup size, unlike the bon Soi is five hundred kilodules per serving, seven point five
grams of protein, eight point five grams of fat. So this is a higher fat soy milk compared to some of the others of the market because of the addition of the oil. And I'll talk about that in a second. So eight point five grams of total fat, one gram of saturated, three point eight grams of carbohydrate, two grams of sugar that's naturally occurring sugars and less than a gram of dietary fiber, and thirty eight milligrams of sodium and three hundred milligrams of calcium. So that's exactly what
we want to see. And I just realized, Suzie, I think the dietary fiber. I thought that was all coming from the soybeans. Actually think that's that Job's tier. They've added that, perhaps for the taste, but also that's got to contribute to the fiber profile because it has a very similar amount of soybeans per cup, So this is less than a gram and the other ones close to three grams. They must be getting some sort of fiber out of that Job's tier because it is a grain.
And I guess it would also give the consistency. Yeah, you know, I think one of the things about soy milk is that it's thicker and it sort of has that mouth feel, you know what I mean. So I'm wondering if that's where that comes into it as well. It's a bit unique in that sense, whereas some of the others will be very similar formulation. So perhaps that's the sort of secret ingredient.
People love it.
But I don't remember seeing that ingredient long term, so whether they didn't declare it or whether it's a new because I don't remember ever seeing that before on a label, I.
Don't either, And I looked it up today and I thought, what is that?
So, you know, it would be strange they suddenly started to declare it, and it would also be strange that they'd started to add it and change the formulation. So these are whole questions. We're not quite sure. So if anyone knows, how do share it? But I have never I'm like, you've seen that, And I think if I had seen it on the label before, I would have sort of thought, what is that?
So? Yeah?
Interesting? Maybe it's like their secret ingredient. It's like the KFC herbs and spice.
Yeah, so this is the pure harvest one. I like it because it's got a nice clean ingredient list. It is a higher fat one versus a higher sugar one, so I guess, you know, pick your poison. But I love the addition of the three hundred milligrams of calcium per serving, and I love the price point, like two dollars for a plant based milk that's high calcium. I think that's really affordable for a lot of families. It is.
But the question I have for you, what does it taste like?
I haven't.
I must admit I haven't had this one. I must admit, because that's the other thing. We don't like to sort of suggest products that don't taste amazing. And I guess my thoughts would be, well, it might be cleaner, but if it doesn't taste great, but certainly nutritionally it comes up trumps. Like I think it's great, great amount of calcium,
it's clean, nutritionally, very very strong. So my only hesitation would be if it's not tasting so amazing, but certainly it would be a product that I would absolutely recommend based on the nutritionals and the very clean ingredient list and that great amount of calcium. The only way I would see it being a better product is if they added some vitamin D. But apart from that, I think it's nine out of ten for a soy milk.
It's great, and it's Aussie made and owned as well, which we love. Of course we're always going to support local. And the last one SUSI am. I say I'm a little bit biased. This is the one I personally choose to drink. It's the Vita soy milky, so it's a light one, so it's a lower sugar one, the lower sugar and sort of the lower fat one as well, so there's a Vita soy soy milky. The normal range is like a dark blue color than the light version,
which is a light blue color. So this one's two dollars forty five at retails four at wool West for the LITA and ingredient wise, we've got filtered water followed by whole soy beans minimum fourteen percent raw sugar. So shock, horror, the finessed artician is drinking a soy milk woods amounted sugar. It's got minerals being calcium phosphate, natural flavor, and some sea salt, so we get a pretty clean ingredient list with the addition of the raw sugar. So it's actually
a small amount, I would say per serving. So it's actually only four grams of sugar per serving, but two of that's natural, two of that's added, so it's not like I'm drinking a huge amount. And I think it's perfectly acceptable if you've got a generally a well balanced diet. And as I said, it is very rare to actually find a soy milk on the market that doesn't have a little bit of added sugar into it. By far, this is one of the lower varieties on the market.
But you can absolutely go for the pure Harvest one, which is no added sugar in it, if that is your choice. But as I said, the Pure Harvest one is higher fat. The Vita Soy Soy Milky Light is actually it's lower fat, but it's higher sugar. So I guess kind of you know, pick your poison, see what you see, what you prefer. I preference the lower calorie one with a little bit of added sugar because I personally think it tastes nice.
And I think we should also say, you know, talking about sugars in milk, so if you have your dairy milk, it's not added sugar, but you're still getting close to eight grams of sugars from lactose per serve. So we do tend to go crazy about added sugars in a milk or a plant based milk. But it should be said that these amounts of relative insignificant, given that that's half the amount that you would get in a dairy
based milk. So you would be splitting hairs to say, right, well, this is giving you four grams of added sugar in two hundred and fifty mil which is sort of just you know, less than even two percent, it's still less. Now is it worse because it's added a little bit, But really it's splitting hairs nutritionally in the big scheme of things, And my only sort of feedback to clients would be if they were having two three serves of this per day, whereas then those sugars are adding up
to sort of two three tea spoons. But if you were having a single coffee per day, and that's quite a lot of milk in a coffee land, like two hundred and fifty mili milk coffee would be quite a large latte, like most of the smaller cups are giving you two hundred and if you pickle or even less so. In the grand scheme of a diet, if you're having a swiw milk coffee once a day that does have some sugar, I wouldn't be the least bit concerned, particularly
if you prefer that flavor to the unsweetened. Of course, if you like the unswa and even better. But again, you know a great amount of calcium. Interesting they use calcium phosphate as opposed to carbonate, And yeah, we'd just love to see a little bit of vitamin D in there so apart from that, like it's the thumbs up, But I think the thing with vitasoi is there's so many different ones. I find it a little bit confusing.
There's the protein one a high, there's a higher calcium one.
As well, then there's a fiber one and or prebody. All the different ones, there's a lot in the range, so you know, definitely you've got to sort of have your glasses on and be sure what you're getting because there's a lot of different varieties.
And I will say the reason I didn't pick the extra calcium fortified one in which I think someone particularly perhaps a metapausal listeners will be asking me for it's only one hundred milligrams and more. Actually had a client who was using it, and she was having two cups of milk within about two three copies a day, and the calorie load is a lot higher, like this per
cup is ninety eight calories. The higher calcium one is one hundred and sixty calories per cup, and if you're doing two or three cups of that per day, she was drinking over five hundred calories in her coffees and for an extra hundred logams or calcium it just wasn't worth it. Where are the.
Calories coming from? What are they putting more sugar in there? That's a lot more calories.
You have to look that up. Let's look that up. Yeah, that's a lot more you look that up, and I'll go through the nutrition information panel because I haven't done that. We look at it.
That's a lot more calories. But the other thing is four hundred. This is three hundred. Yet it's not really that much more, is it?
For one hundred milligrams and you know, an extra sixty seven calories, we went not worth it. So average nutrition information per cup so per two fifty mils. So we've got just over four hundred kilo duels, which is about ninety eight or one hundred calories per cup. Seven point five grams of protein total, four point five grams of fat withero point eight grams of that being saturated's so
very low saturated fat. Six point two grams of carbohydrate something we would consider, you know, a low carbohydrate product per serving, four grams of sugar, two of that being added to of that being natural, two hundred milligrams of sodium. So not insignificant, I guess, and three hundred milligrams of calcium, which is exactly what we want to see. So for most I guess average assurants, it's you know, it's a decent serve and it's probably about thirty to forty percent
of the recommended daily amount of calcium. So if you're someone who doesn't really eat dairy, this is a wonderful product. Or any plant based milk that's fortified with as at least three hundred milligrams of calcium is definitely a good thing. So I would definitely recommend the vitisl one, and I would also recommend the pure harvest one, pending taste.
Absolutely, so I've just had a quick look. It's got more fat and so it's like a full fat you know, seven eight grams of fat per serve, so almost double the fat. I think of this one or three times, and a lot more sugar carbohydrate fourteen grams and seven per serve. And the only other benefit is that it's got a vitamin D in it as well. So I would use this product with my elderly clients who I was worried about their bone health and who needed more calories.
So I'm thinking like seventy eighty year old people who are not having a whole lot and need a lot more nutrition because their appetites reduced versus what you're saying, which is this lightwire and all the unsweetened and much better nutritionally for a younger audience who don't need as many calories. So yeah, and they've put in this one barley flower as well. I'm wondering if it's a consistency and texture thing to try and get it tasting good. If they're adding so much stuff to.
It, is there a preiodic mention on the front of the level like a gutthal's mentioned or a fiber mension. Perhaps that's why they've done it. No, don't think so.
It's more just calcy plasts enriched with calci and vitamin D, phosphorus and magnesium. It's really targeting boone hell. But you're right, it's a high calorie product with a lot more fatten and a lot more sugars relative to the other two
you've compared, so that's where it's coming from. But yeah, not insignificant calories, particularly if you're having a few serves a day, So good to know these different So it's very interesting of vitamin A two actually on this one so heavy fortification Vitamin B twelve good product for a vegan, too wonderful? All right, well, thanks Ianne for that review on sown mill. It's your personal favorite. That brings us to the end of the Nutrition Couch product review for
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