'Milk'

[Guest guest]

Hi folks:

For a while I have been trying, and to a limited extent experimenting with,

different substitutes for milk.

Years ago I used to drink large amounts of regular skim milk. But I found two

problems. First, it made me feel tired (and babies usually fall asleep after

drinking milk, so it may not be a coincidence.) Second, there have been a

couple of studies which found an association between milk consumption and

advanced prostate cancer. One was done in Italy, and the other, IIRC, was a

finding of the Physicians Health Study. They were posted here some time ago.

There are quite a few non-animal sources of 'milk'. I am aware of products made

from soybeans, almonds, rice and oats. Perhaps there are others I am not aware

of.

The calorie counts - per 250 ml cup - of these are as follows:

From regular cow's milk: skim 90 kcal; 1% 110; 2% 130; homogenised 160.

The soy milks I have seen contain anywhere between 70 and 110 calories.

Rice milk, between 110 and 130.

Almond milk, between 40 and 130.

The only oat milk I have encountered contained 120 calories per cup.

Most of these products contain sugar. Not a big surprise as cow's milk also

contains sugar. But the almond milk that had only 40 calories per cup was

labeled as " Unsweetened " . Many seem to be trying to disguise the sugar content

by describing it as something else. 'Evaporated Cane Juice' comes to mind in

more than one case.

If anyone has used these products and has something interesting about them to

share with us, please post. In particular it would be interesting to know if

anyone has found any of them to be a good replacement for milk in recipes that

call for it.

I have tried all of them except soy milk, and have found they are an excellent

substitute for eating with things like rolled oats.

Rodney.