Plant milks no match for real thing – experts

No plant-based milk available in the UK is “nutritionally equivalent” to cows’ milk, a team of UK experts has concluded.

- ELLA PICKOVER

Plant-based milk drinks - including soya, oat and almond milk - have soared in popularity in recent years.

Now nutritional experts advising the UK Government have published a report on the benefits and risks of milk substitutes, with some concerns raised about the use of the products among children under the age of five.

In children aged one to five there is a risk that only consuming plant-based drinks can lead to “inadequate intakes of some micronutrients”, according to experts on the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) and the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment (Cot).

And people of any age group who have these drinks could have a higher intake of added sugar.

But the report stresses that nutritional concerns may be “lessened” if people opt for unsweetened soya, oat and almond milk drinks and if these drinks are fortified with vitamin A, riboflavin, vitamin B12, calcium and iodine at similar levels to those in cows' milk, and also with vitamin D.