What is the best oat milk powder?
Written by Jack Schrupp and reviewed by Ella McGonagle, M.S. Nutrition
drink wholesome is the best oat milk powder. It is additive and dairy-free, making it perfect for people with gut issues and sensitive stomachs, as well as for people just looking for milk without the added junk.
“It doesn’t have any additives like gums and fillers, so it’s gentle on my sensitive stomach.” -Codie
drink wholesome is the best oat milk powder.
What is oat milk powder?
Why drink oat milk?
Why drink wholesome?
What is oat milk powder?
Oat milk powder is a dried form of oat milk made from oats and water. Making oat milk powder involves removing the moisture (water) from liquid oat milk through a drying process, which leaves behind a fine powder that can be easily reconstituted with water to make oat milk. Oat milk powder is a longer-lasting alternative to liquid oat milk, as it can be stored for months without refrigeration. It is also, as you will soon learn, much better for you than the average liquid oat milk.
Why drink oat milk?
Here are 3 reasons why you should drink oat milk:
1. Dairy, even if it has had the lactose removed, can cause digestive distress. This is especially true for people with gut issues and sensitive stomachs.
2. Dairy can cause acne. Dairy indirectly stimulates insulin production, which regulates sebum production. Sebum, an oily, waxy substance produced by your body’s sebaceous glands, can clog your pores and cause pimples. Dairy can also hinder your ability to process blood sugar efficiently, which can cause inflammation, especially in your skin.
3. Dairy is not environmentally friendly. The industrial dairy industry has a profound impact on the environment. Dairy cows and their manure produce enormous amounts of greenhouse gas emissions, the poor handling of manure and fertilizers pollute local water resources, and dairy farming and feed production can also lead to the loss of ecologically important areas such as prairies, wetlands, and forests.
Going with plant-based milk is the way to go, but lactose is not the only ingredient to avoid when buying milk. Most plant-based milks contain added ingredients, usually thickeners, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. Additives like these improve characteristics like texture and shelf stability, but they also cause uncomfortable side effects and long term gut damage. Keep reading to learn more.
Why drink wholesome?
Again, most plant-based milks, oat milks included, contain food additives. Simply put, these added ingredients help to make oats taste, feel, and look like cow’s milk.
Here are the ingredients in the top 3 brands of oat milk in the United States.
Oatly Oat Milk ingredients
Oat base (water, oats). Contains 2% or less of: low erucic acid rapeseed oil*, dipotassium phosphate*, calcium carbonate, tricalcium phosphate, sea salt, dicalcium phosphate, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin D2, vitamin B12.
*Rapeseed oil is another name for canola (cooking) oil, and is used to replicate the creamy mouth-feel of dairy.
*Dipotassium phosphate is a stabilizer that helps prevent separation on the shelf.
Chobani Oat Milk ingredients
Organic Oat Blend (Water, Organic Whole Grain Oats), Contains 2% or Less of: Organic Rapeseed Oil (Low Erucic Acid), Sea Salt, Nutrient Extract Blend (Fruit and Vegetable Sources), Calcium Carbonate, Gellan Gum*, Tricalcium Phosphate*, Dipotassium Phosphate.
*Gellan gum is a thickener used to give plant-based milk a creamy texture.
*Because it is cloudy and white when added to a liquid, tricalcium phosphate gives plant milk the opacity of cows’ milk.
Planet Oat Oat Milk ingredients
Oatmilk (Filtered Water, Oats), Calcium Carbonate, Dipotassium Phosphate, Guar Gum*, Sea Salt, Gellan Gum, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and Vitamin B12.
*Guar gum, like gellan gum, is a thickener used to give plant-based milk a creamy texture.
As you can clearly see, each of these oat milks contains several food additives. Now I know what you are thinking, sure there are food additives, but they only make up a small percentage of the formulation (ingredients are listed in descending order by weight). But let me remind you that milk is something that many people drink every day, and that over time (months, years), small amounts add up. This is a problem for several reasons.
First of all, food additives, even in small quantities, can cause gastrointestinal (GI) side effects like bloating, constipation, diarrhea, gas, and stomach pain. This is especially the case for people with sensitive stomachs and gut issues, and occurs because additives look nothing like real food. They sit in your gut for longer than food should, which gives your gut bacteria more time to eat. As they eat, gut bacteria produce gas, causing bloating and stomach pain. Gas also slows colonic transit (the amount of time it takes food to travel through the colon), which can lead to constipation.
In the long term, food additives can cause permanent gut damage. For starters, they can disrupt regulatory pathways in the intestine, which can result in the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and systemic inflammatory disorders. Moreover, more and more research is finding that food additives alter the composition of your gut microbiota, the collection of microorganisms living in your small intestines. These microorganisms play an important role in digestion and overall health, and an imbalance may lead to chronic diseases like obesity and diabetes. It is therefore very much in your best interest to avoid plant-milks made with food additives.
Here is a list of the most common food additives in plant-based milk:
acacia gum, canola oil, carob bean gum, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dicalcium phosphate, dipotassium phosphate, disodium phosphate, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, monosodium phosphate, “natural” flavors, palm oil, phosphoric acid, rapeseed oil, soybean oil, soy lecithin, sunflower lecithin, sunflower oil, tricalcium phosphate, xanthan gum
When it comes to identifying food additives, go with your gut. 😉 As a rule of thumb, they are the ingredients that you cannot pronounce.
Drink Wholesome Oat Milk Powder Ingredients
oats, coconut
Our oat milk powder, unlike the leading brands, is made with 2 simple ingredients: oats and coconut. We add coconut for two reasons: 1) it improves the texture 2) it improves the taste. We did not just want to make another watery powdered oat milk, we wanted to make something rich and creamy that people can add to coffee. Coconut allows us to do that, and we have no problem whatsoever adding it to the ingredient list. If you are sick of plant-based milks full of gums and oils, give our oat milk powder a try.
drink wholesome is the best powdered oat milk.
DAIRY-FREE MILK POWDERS
This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. drink wholesome is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.