When is milk not milk? When it is a plant-based product, and we are seeing a lot of plant-based products labelled as “milk” now and the trendies are all over it.
Among the non-milks are almond, soy, coconut and macadamia, and while each is a healthy foodstuff in its own right, as milk they attract a lot of additives to make them more palatable, something that is totally unnecessary with genuine full cream cows milk. Non-milks contain such additives as sugar, salt, dipotassium phosphate (whatever that is), ascorbic acid and something called gellan gum to name just a few, but it’s a long list. Check it out the next time you are in a supermarket. It’s surprising what’s in them.
But try to explain all of that to those who have convinced themselves that “milk” derived from plan-based alternatives is a healthier option is like trying to convince the anti-gluten advocates that gluten is really a healthy food, except in the case of those with coeliac disease or some other form of gluten intolerance. People avoiding gluten when they don’t need to are not doing themselves any favours, as they are denying themselves a food that contains a lot of really good things.
Meanwhile, it’s non-dairy, plant-based, non-milks are a thing now and the trendies are embracing them with fervour because they wrongly believe that they are a healthier alternative to real milk and sound cooler. They aren’t, and it doesn’t.
These non-milks especially don’t work for babies, toddlers and young children in general, who need the calcium found in genuine dairy products to develop strong bones and teeth, plus gain a lot of other health benefits, yet there are parents opting for plant-based “milk” which doesn’t cover the requirements and hospitals have reported a spike in the number of children presenting with malnutrition as a result of dangerous diet trends, especially non-dairy diets and that controversial extreme; the vegan diet. Adults who want to go vegan? Good luck with that, because it is not a healthy choice, but Do Not place your kids on a vegan diet as it is extremely unhealthy for them.
But in the interests of good health, as far as the anti dairy crowd go, they would be better off grabbing and eating a handful of the actual nuts rather than ingesting the liquid extracted from them, along with all the additives because at least the nuts themselves come additive-free.
But while plant-based non-milks remain on trend, the demand for them will continue to keep them on supermarket shelves and people believing they are a “healthier” alternative to dairy will remain deaf and blind to the fact that they are not. Dairy is natural, contains vitamins and minerals essential for good health and genuine milk does not need sugar, salt and all those other additives to make it taste better.
It just does, and it is.