Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Cow’s milk being a nutrient dense food has been an essential part of human diets for centuries. Moreover, some factors such as cow’s milk protein allergy, lactose intolerance, presence of saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, animal welfare, environmental health and a change in eating habits have contributed to the rise of plant-based milk alternatives. Consumers perceive these alternatives to be as nutritious and a complete substitute to cow’s milk, thus it is necessary to compare the nutritional quality and examine both short and long-term health impacts related to consumption of cow’s milk and its plant-based alternatives.
The nutritional composition of cow’s milk, raw materials to produce plant-based milk alternatives (almond, soy and coconut) and plant-based milk alternatives (almond drink, soy drink and coconut milk) were obtained from the United State Department of Agriculture Database (USDA). The results of previous meta-analysis, systematic reviews and control trial were used to examine the impacts of cow’s milk and plant-based milk alternatives on health.
The result of this study showed that the nutritional content of essential macro and micro-nutrients of cow’s milk are not equal to that in plant-based milk except for soy drink which has almost similar content of protein in cow’s milk but has a lower quality protein. Also, the bioavailability of nutrients in fortified plant-based milk alternatives tend to be lower compared with cow’s milk. There was no significant association between cow’s milk consumption and health outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and stroke. However, there are no long-term studies on association between plant-based milk alternatives consumption and health outcomes, but it has been hypothesized that the consumption of sweetened beverages has a negative impact on oral health.
In conclusion, the consumption of cow’s milk has no negative impacts on health outcomes. These explains that the impact of a food on health is beyond its constituent nutrient but the effect of the combination of its complex macrostructure, the nutrients and how they interact together in the matrices.