What is the best oat milk powder?

our ingredients:

oats, coconut

the alternative:

Almond milk (Filtered Water, Almonds), Cane Sugar, Vitamin and Mineral Blend (Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin E Acetate, Vitamin A Palmitate, Vitamin D2), Sea Salt, Natural Flavor, Sunflower Lecithin, Locust Bean Gum, Gellan Gum, Ascorbic Acid

drink wholesome is the best oat milk powder.

Written by Jack Schrupp & endorsed by Baylee Reller, RDN

What is oat milk powder?

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Oat milk is a plant-based milk alternative made from oats. It has become increasingly popular as a dairy-free and vegan milk substitute.

Oat milk powder is dehydrated oat milk that can be easily reconstituted with water to make oat milk. Powdered oat milk has a longer shelf life than liquid oat milk, and can be stored for months without refrigeration. It is also much better for you than the most liquid oat milks because it does not require added emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickeners. (more about this later).

Why drink powdered oat milk?

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Here are 3 reasons why you should drink oat milk (as opposed to cow’s 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 huge negative 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 leads to the loss of ecologically important areas such as prairies, wetlands, and forests.

Going with a plant-based milk like oat milk is better for you and the planet, but not all plant-based milks are created equal. Unfortunately, many plant-based milks contain added thickeners, emulsifiers, and stabilizers, all of which can cause uncomfortable side effects and long term health problems.

Why drink wholesome? 

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Most plant-based milks, oat milks included, contain food additives. Simply put, these ingredients help to make plant milk taste, feel, and look like cow’s milk. Here is an overview of the added 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. Additives, even in small amounts, can cause painful gastrointestinal (GI) side effects like bloating, diarrhea, and stomach pain.

Basically, food additives look nothing like real food, making them hard to digest. They consequently linger in your gut, feeding your gut bacteria. As they eat, gut bacteria produce gas, which can cause bloating, flatulence, and stomach pain. It can also slow colonic transit – the amount of time it takes food to travel through the colon – leading to constipation.

In some cases, partially digested food additives can cause your colon to pull in extra water and/or prevent your colon from absorbing water. This is called osmotic diarrhea, and may be the reason why plant milks make you run to the bathroom. 

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

Over time, eating food additives can disturb regulatory pathways in your intestines, triggering the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other systemic inflammatory disorders. Regularly eating food additives can also disrupt your gut microbiome – the community of microorganisms living in your gut. An unhealthy gut microbiome is a leading driver of inflammation in the body, and linked to the onset and progression of several chronic diseases.

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 want to make watery oat milk, but we did not want to use food additives either. Coconut was the answer.

Thanks to the addition of coconut, our oat milk powder is rich, creamy, and additive-free. You can drink it straight from the glass, or add it to your coffee without worrying about upsetting your stomach. Give our oat milk powder a try to see for yourself.