Oat-milk latte is seen as a trendy choice, but it might not be...

Oat-milk latte is seen as a trendy choice, but it might not be good for your healthCompared with oat milk, cow’s milk contains more protein, vitamins B2 and B12, iron, magnesium and iodine. Illustration: Nina Krause/The Sunday TimesBy BEN SPENCER and LOUISE ECCLESTHE TIMES5:16PM DECEMBER 31, 2023193 COMMENTSAn oat-milk latte is seen as a trendy choice, but it might not be good for your health. Plant-based milk, such as oat, soy and almond milk, and non-meat alternatives, may be driving a surge in vitamin deficiency, experts fear.While the main cause of people eating unhealthily is thought to be the rise in food poverty – soaring prices leaving many people unable to afford good food – doctors say the growing uptake of plant-based food and drink is leaving people without sufficient nutrients and causing increased hospitalisations for vitamin deficiency.Keith Godfrey, professor of epidemiology and human development at the University of Southampton, said: “One of the things which is underappreciated is the fall in cow’s milk dairy intake … Cow’s milk is a good source of many vitamins, but a lot has been replaced by almond milk and soya milk and things like that – and their nutritional content is nothing like that of cow’s milk.”While veganism is on the rise, Professor Godfrey said it was people who had the occasional plant-based meal who were likely to be more at risk. People who committed to veganism full-time tended to be aware of what foods they needed to make up the nutrients, but those who had switched to a daily oat milk latte, for example, might have no idea of the nutritional shortfalls.Compared with oat milk, cow’s milk contains more protein, vitamins B2 and B12, iron, magnesium and iodine. Vitamin B12 occurs naturally only in animal products. “We inescapably have to move towards more plant-based diets,” said Professor Godfrey, citing the threat of climate change. “But that is going to bring with it challenges in relation to some of these vitamins and minerals where actually animal products are some of the dominant sources. Plant-based diets can be healthy, but you have to work harder to get some of these vitamins and minerals.”READ MORE: Happy cows recipe for better class of milk |Professor Godfrey in November published the results of a study of 1700 women in the UK, New Zealand and Singapore who were trying to become pregnant. His results, published in the peer-reviewed Plos Medicine journal, found that the majority of participants had insufficient levels of vitamins essential for a healthy pregnancy, such as folate and vitamins B2, B12 and D. “Hospital admissions are the tip of the iceberg,” he said. “If you go out and test people in a comprehensive way, we found that more than 90 per cent of otherwise healthy women of reproductive age had low or marginal status for some of these key vitamins.”Public health nutritionist Emma Derbyshire said there could be many reasons for the increase in vitamin deficiencies including increased testing.But changing dietary patterns clearly played a role, she said. “We have transitioned away from the ‘meat and two veg’ era,” she said. “Fad diets, elimination diets and restrictive diets could also have a role to play

An intersting article from the Australian