My nephew is lactose intolerant. We’ve tried soy milk and are contemplating rice milk (soy doesn’t taste right to him). My question is, what is the nutritional value of soy or rice milk? Is it equivalent to cow’s milk? How does it differ? Do any brands taste more “real” than others?
In a related question, if someone’s lactose intolerant, is goat milk a viable option or is the lactose in that the same as cow’s milk? Are there any milk-based products that don’t have lactose (Cheese is right out – give him cheese and you turn him into a methane gas generation plant with astounding production capacity – YIKES!!!)
My impression of soy milk is that it has a little bit less of what’s good for you than real milk, and a whole lot less of what’s bad for you. Yeah, it’s a trade-off. And since the benefits tend to favor soy milk, they also charge a whole lot more for it. If your grocer has a house brand, try that; it’s just as good as Silk.
By the glass, it tastes chalky–hell, it is chalky! They should market it to people with Pica!–but the flavored versions of it (Vanilla’s my favorite) taste just fine on cereal, which is about the only thing I use milk for anyway.
When your nephew tried soymilk, was it plain or vanilla? Vanilla tastes a lot more like dairy milk to me so maybe have him try that. Looking at the nutrition facts, soymilk appears to be better. Here’s a comparison of Silk Vanilla Soymilk with 2% dairy milk. The winner is in bold.
Fat: 3.5g (.5g saturated) for soymilk vs 5g (3g saturated) for dairy milk.
Cholesterol: Soy: none, milk: 7% of RDA
Sodium: both have about 5% RDA
Potassium: Soy: 8% RDA, milk: none
Fiber: Soy has 1 gram, milk none
Sugars: Soy: 16g, milk: 12g
Protein: Soy 7g, milk 8g
As for the number of vitamins and minerals listed on the label, soymilk wins with 14 compared to 4 with milk. Everything that the milk has, soy has a greater amount. The most important probably being calcium, soy has 35% RDA compared to milk’s 30%. Also, according to the FDA, 25 grams of soy protein a day reduces the risk of heart disease. Milk has cholesterol and saturated fat so the same cannot be said. Silk soymilk is made from organic soybeans, while milk has all kinds of hormones in it (if you’re worried about that). As mentioned, soymilk costs more than milk. Around it’s about 1.5 the price of dairy.
To me, rice milk tastes a lot more like cow’s milk than soy milk does - which is precisely why I drink soy milk, since my reaction to cow’s milk is one of disgust, not digestive impairment.
But all the fake milks out there (there are nut milks too - it might be worth a try but I’m betting they’re expensive as hell) lack the nutrients of cow’s milk. Specifically, they don’t have nearly as much calcium, and I doubt they naturally have the vitamins that milk is fortified with. But most of them are fortified as well, so you can just read the label and compare. The brand I buy (I forget which one at the moment - it’s in a blue box. has as much calcium as cow’s milk.)
If you do end up buying a lot of soy or rice milk for him, check out your local health food stores - I save a fortune by buying by the case and having a membership at the store, so each quart is only a buck in the end. Milk’s gotten so expensive that it’s almost comparable, really.
If you’re just after the nutrition, maybe you should talk to the doc about a calcium supplement (and any other things he thinks might be a good idea.) If you want something to pour over cereal, though, I’d check out the different brands of soy milk and rice milk. Different brands have a notably different taste to me, and they come in all sorts of variations - low fat, fat free, plain, vanilla, unsweetened (because even the plain is sweetened to match the taste of milk a little better) and so forth, so it might take some shopping around to find a good one.
This is true in my neck of the woods. My 13-month old daughter went from soy formula to soy milk, whereas many babies go from regular formula to cow’s milk. Soy milk and cow’s milk are very close in price (by the half-gallon) at our local grocery. There is a nice price break on buying a gallon of cow’s milk over buying a half-gallon, though – we can’t take advantage of such a break with soy milk.
Unfortunately, asking the nutritional value of rice or soy milk is like asking the nutritional value of a cookie. There are a huge number of brands and options: low-fat, high calcium, added nutrients, etc. You have to do your research in a store by checking the nutritional information that is on all the packages.
If your nephew is over a year old, then he can use lactase, either in drop form that is added to regular milk to remove the lactose, or in pill form that can be taken with dairy-containing foods. There are chewable tablets as well. Drops are only available by mail order today.
You do want to be sure that the problem really is lactose intolerance and not milk protein allergy. People confuse these all the time. If it is a protein allergy then all dairy products are proscribed, and lactase is not an option.
Goat’s milk contains exactly as much lactose as cow’s milk.
Remember, too, that people vary tremendously in how dairy they can have without symptoms. Some foods with low lactose contents can be eaten without worry, but this is a matter of trial and error. Over the long haul, learning what you can hide without a pill or symptoms is worth the trouble, however.
The best site for information on LI and milk-substitute products (and how to order lactase drops and much more) is Steve Carper’s Lactose Intolerance Clearinghouse. You’ll also find instructions there about joining the No Milk List, geared toward parents whose children have to avoid milk.
IANA doctor or dietician, but many soy milks are available fortified with calcium & Vitamin D. As long as the soy milk you buy has those supplements (usually noted clearly on the bottle/box), I think soy milk is nutritionally comparable to dairy milk.
I recently read Eat, Drink, & Be Healthy by Walter Willett, M.D. who says dairy milk’s other ingredients help the body absorb calcium, but the saturated milkfat content makes milk not the best vehicle for getting your Recommended Daily Allowance of calcium.
Lots of soy milks can be grainy, but this cookbook author Heather Van Vorous uses soy substitutions in her recipes & recommends Vanilla-flavored Vitasoy. Its texture I think is smoother than other brands. So don’t have your son write off soy milk just yet. I’ve also found that the higher the sugar content, the better the soy milk tastes.
Some people say soy milk is as expensive as dairy milk, but I think soy milk is more convenient. Soy milk is supposed to be thrown out ten days after its opened, but until then it can remain on the shelf for about a year. When my local grocer has a sale I stock up & use it over time.
I’m lactose intolerant too, and I cannot stand Rice or Soy milk. So, I started buying Lactaid Milk. It tastes just like regular milk, comes in skim, 2%, D, and whole, and doesn’t make even a little bit sick. It’s a bit more expensive, but the generic store brand isn’t too bad.
This would depend on exactly what the allergy is, but I used to babysit for a kid who couldn’t have cows milk but was fine with goat milk.
Much as I love goat cheese, goat milk makes me retch - I really struggled to drink a cup of tea she made me with it! But she seemed to really enjoy it, I guess it was all she had ever really known.
Here they drink camel’s milk a lot - I haven’t been near that, but I’ve heard it’s even goatier than goat’s milk
I’ve got to disagree with you there. Maybe at some stores that’s true, but I bought a box (you know, one of those aseptic containers) of Wild Oats’ store brand soy milk once and it was awful. Talk about chalky!
You see, with real milk, well, it’s pretty much all the same from one brand to the next because it’s just one substance (milk) obtained from one source (a cow). Milk isn’t made it’s obtained. But soy milk, on the other hand, is made from a recipe. And just as different brands of, say, store bought cookies are going to taste different because they use different recipes, so will different brands of soy milk.
As far as store brands go, I’ve heard good things about the soy milk from Trader Joe’s, but we don’t have those around here, so I’ve never tried it.
As far as other “fake milks” go, my personal favorite is almond milk. They have a brand at Wild Oats called (I think) Almond Breeze. I absolutely love that stuff. Rice milk is good, too. And most of these milks are fortified with calcium and vitamins.
Well, We tried “real” soy milk, and my nephew was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t make him want to hurl (we have both seen “the Santa Clause” and remember Santa’s reaction to the stuff he drank). OTOH, he will now not touch soy milk (I finished what we had). Next to try will be rice milk, but he’s pretty picky about some things, so who knows? All I know is that when he drinks cow’s milk, I’d better stay upwind.
Far, FAR upwind! :eek:
If he doesn’t like rice milk, then he’s on his own. I’ll let him know about the almond milk, though. Maybe when he goes into Portland for his viola lessons he can ask around?
has as much calcium as cow’s milk.)