While plant-based alternatives to milk have been growing steadily over the last 10 years, oat milk’s popularity is skyrocketing and demand is exploding. Plant-based milk alternatives have been growing rapidly while worldwide demand for dairy milk has been in decline. Almond milk is the leading plant-based milk alternative currently, but oat milk is growing faster and gaining fans. Why is oat milk growing in popularity so quickly? Turns out, there are multiple reasons.
What Is Oat Milk?
Oat Milk was created by Swedish scientist, Richard Oste in the 1990s; he later founded the company Oatly, which went on to become one of the major manufactures of oat milk products worldwide.
Made by soaking oats in water, oat milk often employs enzymes to break down the oat starches as it soaks. The liquid is strained to remove the pulp and heated gently to purify.Throughout this process, the liquid retains much of the fiber. Commercial oat milk is usually “fortified” with calcium and Vitamin D to give it an equivalent nutritional profile as dairy milk. Other common additives are small amounts of vegetable oils (for frothiness), sugars (to sweeten), and flavoring added. So it pays to read the ingredients if you are looking for no added sugar or additives. Oat milk is naturally higher in carbohydrates than nut-based milk alternatives so it is naturally sweet like dairy milk. And it is also naturally high in Vitamin A and Riboflavin.
The negatives about oats are they have more carbs, and are higher in calories than other plant-based alternatives. Oat milk also has less protein that dairy or soy milk. It does have more protein than almond, cashew, coconut or rice milk though, so it’s in the middle of the pack on protein. But don’t let a few calories or carbs sway you just yet – oats have several other redeeming qualities.
Oats are relatively easy and inexpensive to grow. They can be grown in a wide variety of climates, all around the world. And like other plant-based drinks, oat milk requires far less resources and creates far less greenhouse gases than animal-based dairy milk. In fact, oat milk is generally considered the most environmentally-friendly plant-based dairy replacement.
My personal journey with plant-based milk alternatives began 10 years ago as a way of reducing cholesterol in my 2 daily cups of coffee…
My personal journey with plant-based milk alternatives began 10 years ago as a way of reducing cholesterol in my 2 daily cups of coffee. I switched to almond milk and found that I didn’t miss dairy much. In 2018, I heard about oat milk and eventually found a barista brand that was creamy enough to replace almond milk in my coffee. Over time, I found that oat milk tasted great in cereal, chocolate milk, and almost every recipe i tried it in. By 2019, I had switched completely over to oat milk because it was just as tasty and more environmentally friendly than almond milk.
You can make homemade oat milk by simply soaking common rolled oats in water, and then straining out the pulp. Oat milk is most commonly used as a coffee creamer and a substitute for milk in cereal and other recipes.
Reason 1: Oat Milk is the Most Environmentally Friendly Plant-Based Milk Alternative
The list of plant-based milk replacements available today is extensive, with the most popular being almond, soy, and rice. Sustainability has become an important aspect of the food supply as resources grow scarce and populations continue to grow. Cow milk is often described as extremely inefficient – requiring a high amount of resources (water, land, food, and chemicals) and creating a lot of carbon dioxide and methane – which are greenhouse gasses. Much of this is from the cows themselves as they eat and pass digestive-based gas. While reductions in cow gas have been made in recent years, dairy farming still contributes about 3% of all greenhouse gases worldwide. That’s a lot. Greenhouse gases are one of the base causes of climate change and dairy farming is the target of many environmentalists because of the gas they generate, the amount of water pollution they create, and the amount of land and feed resources they require.
Plant-based alternatives are more and more popular as they generally use less resources, and their processes do not generate anything near the greenhouse gasses and water pollution. They don’t require antibiotics and they pose less risk for salmonella and other food-borne illnesses.
Reason 2: Oat Milk Is Nutritious & Better For You Than Cow’s Milk
Dairy milk is a leading source of saturated fat in the American diet and implicated as a contributor to heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and Alzheimers. And a certain percentage of people are also allergic or intolerance to dairy, so they also seek out a dairy-free replacement for milk. Consequently, the search for a healthier replacement for dairy milk has led many to plant-based milks – including oat milk.
The good news is that many plant-based milk alternatives taste great and are nutritionally good for you.
A one cup serving of oat milk provides:
- 130 calories
- 2.5g total fat
- 0g saturated fats
- 2 grams of fiber
- 4 grams of protein
- 35% of recommended daily allowance for calcium
- 25% of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin D
- Also vitamin B, thiamin, folate, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, zinc and copper
Reason 3: Oats Are Scientifically Proven To Improve Heart and Gut Microbiome Health
Oats are naturally rich in fiber which aids digestion. And since a ground-breaking study in Europe with oat fibre reduced blood cholesterol concentrations in high cholesterol patients, oats have been looked as a healthy alternative. Cereals and other products were quick to promote the new found benefits and oats are part of many healthier alternative on today’s grocery aisles.
Recently, more and more health news has been emphasizing the importance of the Gut Microbiome on not only physical health, but also on mental health. Here again, oat outshines the competition. In an italian study at the University of Bari Aldo Moro, not only did oat fiber reduce cholesterol levels but it also repopulated gut flora and gave a boost to the immune system.
Another study indicated that oat fiber killed off human melanoma cells. Wow!
Just remember, oats are grown on farms and some farms use pesticides like Roundup (glyphosate). So do your research and make sure the product you are buying is organic or pesticide-free. And don’t assume that oat Milk is gluten-free, as some oat products are processed in the same facility with gluten and may be a problem for people with celiac disease. Luckily many oat milks in the United States are manufactured in a way that makes them gluten-free and safe for celiacs.
Plant-based Diets Are Now Mainstream
Gallup recently polled Americans on their meat eating habits. They found US adults that identify as Vegetarian have remained relatively steady for the past 20 years at 5%, while the percent of people reducing their intake of meats has zoomed to almost 23%.
The number one reason for going meat-free? Health and Nutrition. And some groups are even more likely to be reducing their meat intake:
- Women are twice as likely to be reducing meat consumption
- Non-whites are reducing meats at a higher rate than whites
- Midwesterners are less likely to reduce meats in their diet versus other areas
- Residents of cities and suburbs are reducing meat consumption faster than residents in rural areas
- Traditionally, one of the main reasons that people chose to reduce or eliminate meat from their diet was animal welfare. That reason has now slipped to #4.
Top 5 reasons that people eat meat-free according to a Gallup poll:
- Health concerns
- Environmental concerns
- Food safety
- Animal welfare
- To meet family member eating preferences
“oat milk is widely considered to be the most sustainable and environmentally-friendly of all the mainstream plant-based milks, both in comparison to cow’s milk and other alt-milks”
With more and more people seeking out plant-based drinks to replace dairy milk for health and environmental reasons, it should be no surprise that plant-based drinks are soaring in popularity. David Peters, former Head of Oatly UK, summarized oat milk’s appeal in a recent post on vegconomist.com like this, “oat milk is widely considered to be the most sustainable and environmentally-friendly of all the mainstream plant-based milks, both in comparison to cow’s milk and other alt-milks. Oatly claims that switching from cow’s milk to oat milk can save up to 73% in CO2. Similarly, while it takes 4-5 litres of water to grow a single almond and the soybean industry has caused extensive deforestation, oats are regarded as a valuable part of crop rotation systems and can be grown locally in many regions of the world.”
I personally found switching from half & half in my morning coffee and from milk in my occasional breakfast cereal to oat milk to be a minor transition. I still enjoy both equally as in the past. But now I am benefiting from the health benefits like improved heart and gut health – without really making any change to my overall diet. And I am helping the environment in a number of ways. Sound good? It can be if you find an Oat Milk that you enjoy. With an expanding number of choices, I am pretty sure you can.
To help you find the most delicious and nutritious Oat Milks, see our review of Oat Milks here.
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