Fake milk inferior to real milk, experts find

People who drink plant-based milk are missing out on important nutrients found in cow’s milk, a recent study found.

The study was presented at this week’s NUTRITION 2023 conference, according to the Daily Mail. Researchers looked at 233 brands of oat, soy, rice, pea, cashew and hazelnut milk made by 23 companies and found that nine out of ten were lacking the nutrients found in real milk. 

According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), cow’s milk contains about eight grams of protein per 8.1 fl oz, 306 mg of calcium and nearly three mcg of vitamin D per serving.

The overwhelming majority of fake milk products, on the other hand, miss the mark on each. Only 28 fake milk products were found to have at least as much of each nutrient as whole milk, and only 38 carried as much protein.

Cow’s milk consumers would need to drink 1.5 liters — or about six glasses — of real milk to follow the FDA’s recommendation of 50 daily grams of protein. Plant-based milk drinkers, however, would need to consume 6.2 liters, or about 25 glasses.

“Our results provide evidence that many plant-based milk alternatives are not nutritionally equivalent to cow’s milk,” said epidemiologist Dr. Abigail Johnson, the study’s lead researcher. Dr. Johnson added that those who consume fake milk should supplement the missing nutrients from other products.

The study presents an inconvenience to the burgeoning fake milk industry which is being hailed for its “war on climate change”.

Fake dairy manufacturer Remilk founder and CEO Aviv Wolff says the real dairy industry “has no right to exist” due to its greenhouse gas emissions. Remilk, which has so far raised $150 million in funding, obtained approval in April  from Israel’s Health Ministry to sell its fake whey protein. The company already received regulatory approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Singapore Food Authority (SFA) last year.

Remilk produces whey protein in a lab which it claims is “100% identical to cow’s protein”. Whey is used in 80% of dairy products, including yogurts, ice cream, milk and soft cheeses. The company intends to also start producing lab-grown casein protein, which is found in hard cheeses.

One of Wolff’s primary motivations for starting Remilk was the environmental impact of the dairy industry, which he says should not exist.

“On the environmental side, in order to avoid an environmental catastrophe, the food industry needs to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions. The dairy industry has no way to do this and that means that in the long run, in an era of climate crisis, it has no right to exist. The only way is transformation. Our technology can save 95% of emissions. The dairy industry will never reach these numbers,” Wolff told Calcalist.

The fake food enthusiast also said he hopes to capitalize on veganism and put dairy farmers out of business.