Wellness influencers are ditching almond and oat milks and returning to dairy amid health concerns.
Plant-based milks were once touted as a low-calorie, low-fat alternative, but studies have indicated that they are nutritionally inferior to cow’s milk.
Jessica Cording, registered dietician and author, told DailyMail.com: “Dairy-free products have a kind of health halo around them: many consumers assume that just because something is dairy-free that it means it’s healthy.”
But experts have recently raised concerns about its effect on blood sugar levels and about some potentially harmful ingredients, including emulsifiers, which have been linked to colon cancer.
Steph Robinson, a Los Angeles, California-based influencer, has more than 107,000 followers on TikTok and ranked oat milk at the bottom of her list of milk options, claiming it causes blood sugar spikes.
Oat milk is a popular milk substitute that is made by soaking oats in water and straining them. Some avoid drinking it because it is low in protein compared to other options, can cause blood sugar spikes, or contains additives such as emulsifiers.
Almond milk sales in 2024 were down 8.5 percent from a year earlier and oat milk sales were down 1.25 percent over the same period, according to a GIROS reporta company that tracks purchasing data in the United States.
The report found that all plant-based milk sales declined 5.2 percent over the past year, although that still generated a whopping $2.8 billion in sales for the industry.
Public opinion seems to reflect this slight slowdown.
Los Angeles-based influencer Steph Robinson set the Internet alight last year when she put oat milk at the bottom of her list of milk options, claiming the product causes massive blood glucose spikes and energy crashes.
At the same time, raw milk became a favorite of American foodies on both the left and right, rallying behind calls from celebrities like Gweynth Paltrow who claimed that unpasteurized milk was more nutritious because it was less processed.
Health authorities widely rejected this claim and made it clear that pasteurization helps prevent the spread of disease.
Still, dairy seems to be back in fashion. This could partly have to do with the bad press surrounding non-dairy milks.
A common complaint is that these items contain additives that make them highly processed, such as emulsifiers.
Emulsifiers are products added to foods, lotions, and shower products that prevent a liquid product from separating over time.
They are used in everything from peanut butter to yogurt, mascara and glue.
Their names range from familiar, such as gelatin or whey protein, to scientific, such as xanthan gum and carboxymethyl cellulose.
But they all work the same way, giving the product a smooth and creamy texture.
Most non-dairy milk brands use some type of emulsifier to hold the product together.
Samantha Cochrane, registered dietitian nutritionist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center: “These are highly processed forms of oats and almonds, so it is not surprising that ingredients are added during processing to stabilize and preserve the products.”
In recent years, researchers have begun to investigate whether emulsifiers in various highly processed products could be contributing to the increase in colon and rectal cancer in young people. Their results have been inconclusive.
Dr. Stuart Fischer, an emergency physician in New York City, told DailyMail.com: “Colon cancer can result from excessive exposure to certain unknown toxins, and many of them have been suggested over the years. years”.
A 2021 study Researchers at the University of Paris who fed mice emulsifiers such as polysorbate 80 and carboxymethylcellulose found that regular consumption of the products caused an increase in intestinal inflammation.
Chronic inflammation may increase cancer risk damaging DNA. They suggested that this could put the body at greater risk of developing colorectal cancer.
Health guru Paltrow uses unpasteurized milk in her coffee every day, she told media in early 2024. Drinking milk that has not been pasteurized increases the risk of contracting infectious diseases and bacteria and has no known benefits for the health, authorities warn.
TO different study in 2021 It was discovered that introducing emulsifiers into a colony of bacteria that mimicked the type found in the human intestine caused some of the bacteria to die or become unhealthy.
Research has suggested that bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract play an important role in fighting cancer, and that altering them could increase the likelihood of colorectal cancers.
In 2024 Gastroenterologist at the University of Miami Dr. María Abreu, who studies the effect of food additives and their relationship with colon cancer, also said that the effect of emulsifiers on the microbiome could be contributing to the number of young people suffering from cancer.
Separate research 2022 of the French Nutrition and Cancer Research Network studied more than 102,000 adults and estimated their exposure to different food additives during one day by asking them about their eating habits.
They then tracked them for ten years and found that those who were estimated to consume higher amounts of certain emulsifiers were more likely to consume them. develop breast cancer.
Taking this research into account, Dr Abreu told DailyMail.com: ‘I think it is good to convey to parents that they should minimally expose their children to these things.
‘I believe that colon cancer can be prevented. Something has to start with conveying this message to parents because we believe that this starts at a very early time.
“It takes a lifetime to make good decisions.”
This research is something to pay attention to, Cording said, but it is not conclusive and more research needs to be done before drawing conclusions about emulsifiers.
Cording told this website: “I think it’s appropriate to be concerned, but I also think we need to keep exploring.”
Additionally, both Cording and Cochrane added, how much of these highly processed ingredients are consumed and what other foods are added to the diet are equally important, he said.
Most nut milks still contain additives such as emulsifiers to create a creamy, smooth texture, but they may have more nutrients than oat milk, making it the preferred choice for a plant-based diet. If someone can’t eat nuts, Cording recommends soy milk.
Cochrane said: “If anything, this reinforces the fact that a diet with less processed foods can be beneficial for overall health.” However, there is not enough evidence to vilify these foods or ingredients and avoid them completely.’
They are FDA approved and generally considered safe, especially if you only consume them occasionally.
Cording’s main concern with oat milk in particular is not the additives, but the effect it can have on blood sugar.
“In my work I focus a lot on blood sugar control, which is essential for many aspects of our physical and mental well-being,” Cording said.
Oat milk tends to have lower amounts of protein and higher amounts of carbohydrates or sugars than cow’s milk or nut milk. An average cup of oat milk contains about 4 grams of protein, compared to 8 grams for dairy, soy, or pea milk.
When the body breaks down carbohydrates, it causes a rise in blood sugar, which causes the body to need to release insulin. Eating foods with other nutrients that can balance sugars, helping them be absorbed more slowly, can make insulin spikes less pronounced.
Over time, having constant blood sugar spikes can make it difficult to control your weight and may increase your chance of developing lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, in the future.
For that reason, Cording said: ‘in In my own practice, I tend to steer my clients away from oat milk if they can tolerate dairy and/or other plant-based milks.’