A Comparative Analysis of Plant-Based Milk Alternatives Part 1: Composition, Sensory, and Nutritional Value

Abstract

Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in reducing the consumption of animal-based foods for health, sustainability, and ethical reasons. The food industry is developing products from plant-based ingredients that mimic animal-based foods’ nutritional and sensory characteristics. In this study, the focus is on plant-based milk alternatives (PBMAs). A potential problem with plant-based diets is the deficiency of important micronutrients, such as vitamin B12, B2, and calcium. Therefore, an analysis of micronutrients in PBMAs was conducted to assess their nutritional value. The second main focus was on the sensory description of the PBMAs, done by a trained panel, and instrumental assessment to characterize the sensory attributes. Almond drinks met the daily micronutrient requirements the least, while soy drinks came closest to cow’s milk in macro- and micronutrients. The experimentally determined electronic tongue and volatile compound results confirmed the sensory panel’s evaluations and could therefore be used as a method for easy and effective assessments of PBMAs. The PBMAs evaluated in this study could not completely replace cow’s milk’s nutritional and sensory properties. They are products in their own product group and must be evaluated accordingly. Given the variety of products, consumers should experiment and make their decisions regarding the substitution of cow’s milk.

Physical–Chemical and Sensory Quality of Oat Milk Produced Using Different Cultivars

“…The protein content was not significantly different from each other. The oat milk obtained by our process can provide around 1% of protein ( Table 5 ), which is comparable to or higher than previously reported commercial products (0.3–1.0% of protein) [ 38 ]. Moreover, it is not significantly different from the commercial product analyzed in the present study ( Table 5 ).…”

“…The lipid content was different among samples, which could be due to differences in the raw materials. The lipid content of oat milk produced from ZBY01, ZBY09, and AO was significantly higher, whereas the lipid content of the oat milk produced from ZZH02 was comparable to that of the commercial product and previously reported oat milk [ 38 ]. The oat milk samples and commercial product can provide around 60–73 mg/mL of carbohydrates, which is comparable to previous reports [ 38 ].…”

Market Basket Survey of the Micronutrients Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Calcium, and Potassium in Eight Types of Commercial Plant-Based Milk Alternatives from United States Markets

“…However, the mean of our data obscures that two of the almond PBMA brands contained ∼210 mg/100 g, while the third brand contained 43.1 mg/100 g (Figure ). Samples from studies done in Germany, Greece, New Zealand, Spain, and Turkey have typically found the calcium content in PBMAs in the range of 30–70 mg calcium/100 g, but some have reported values as high as 100 mg/100 g. − …”

A Comparative Analysis of Plant-Based Milk Alternatives Part 2: Environmental Impacts

“…In addition, the ESU World food LCA database (October 2019) was used for oat drink, conventional and organic soy drink, almond drink, and conventional and organic milk. Fortified PBMAs differ largely in their additives (Pointke et al) [38]. Taking into account these differences, only data sets from unfortified PBMAs with similar percentages of plant-based raw material were used (Table 2).…”

“…Both PBMAs and milk beverages differ in their nutritional composition, as shown by Pointke et al [38]. Accordingly, LCA results were expressed and related to the major dietary components: contents of energy (kcal) and protein (g) of the beverages.…”