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Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

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Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#91

Post by micromacrofoot »

denimnerd42 wrote: post #41
goodpoint wrote: post #10

...and yet taxation does not reflect environmental at all. In some countries cow milk is even subsidized. Edit: cow milk is actually less healthy than alternatives and there is no reason to encourage it.

cow milk is an incredible nutrient rich food with associated health benefits for children. I haven't seen that milk alternatives have those benefits.

Cow's milk is typically fortified to include additional nutrients. You're getting roughly the equivalent of that in fortified soy milk, except for maybe less fat and cholesterol.

Most children would do just fine with soy milk as an alternative.

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#92

Post by oh_sigh »

russianbandit wrote: post #4

And yet coffee shops that claim to be organic, eco conscious and fair trade still penalize you for opting for a milk alternative (by charging extra, like up to $1).

Beyond the cost from the supplier, perhaps because there is a greater overhead associated with supplying that milk to a minority of customers. If everyone was drinking oat milk by default I don't think there would be a $1 upcharge.

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#93

Post by unicornporn »

oh_sigh wrote: post #77
unicornporn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it comes to Oatly... It tastes good, but that's because it contains plenty of sugars. You'll notice the difference when you make your own oat milk from oats. It's tastes quite terrible actually. Oatly adds enzymes to break down the starches to sugar. https://www.gq.com/story/oatly-nutrition-ipo

Oatly original has 7g of sugar - 1 cup of whole cows milk has 12 g of sugar. So it is still significantly less sugar than cow's milk. I drink planet oat milk, and that only has 4g of sugar and tastes good to me.

Oatly's primary sugar, maltose, has 2.3 times the blood sugar impact as lactose, the primary sugar in cow's milk. Maltose has a glycemic index of 105, compared to 46 for lactose.[1]

[1] https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/oatly-responds-in-defense-of...

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#95

Post by unicornporn »

zukzuk wrote: post #89
unicornporn wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When it comes to Oatly... It tastes good, but that's because it contains plenty of sugars. You'll notice the difference when you make your own oat milk from oats. It's tastes quite terrible actually. Oatly adds enzymes to break down the starches to sugar. https://www.gq.com/story/oatly-nutrition-ipo

So does cow milk. 7g* of added sugar in a cup of Oatly, about 8g of various sugars in a cup of milk. Oatly add the sugar to more closely simulate the flavour of milk, but it tastes about as sweet... and both are way too sweet if you ask me. *The nutrition profile is a bit more complicated as I think they add enzymes to break down starches in the oats, so you end up with more sugar even though it's not technically "ad…

Oatly's primary sugar, maltose, has 2.3 times the blood sugar impact as lactose, the primary sugar in cow's milk. Maltose has a glycemic index of 105, compared to 46 for lactose.[1]

[1] https://www.jeffnobbs.com/posts/oatly-responds-in-defense-of...

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#96

Post by mos_basik »

tootie wrote: post #39
SirensOfTitan wrote: post #17

Questions that come to mind: 1. What percentage of land use for dairy cows is arable? 2. What percentage of water consumed by dairy cows is recycled (eg from rain water), how does that compare to something like almonds? 3. What percentage of greenhouse gas emissions are added to the environment over already existing in the environment and just being moved?

Not if this is related, but WaPo published a big story on how American beef consumption is destroying the Amazon today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2022/amazon... This is more about beef than milk, but the situation is likely very similar.

I misparsed that as "American beef consumption is significantly reducing the commercial viability of an AMZN project named "Amazon Today," and was surprised when I clicked.

I guess it was a combination of us being on HN right now and the fact that I apparently downregulate how much signal I expect to get from English grammar rules when reading text written by strangers on the Internet. I certainly don't see any problems with your grammar upon re-reading.

I wonder if I would have correctly parsed "...published a big story on how American beef consumption is actively destroying the Amazon"?

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#97

Post by jkestner »

Reason077 wrote: post #22

I'm not vegan or anything, but I've found oat milk not only tastes great on cereal etc, but it also keeps fresh for much longer in the fridge. I've pretty much given up buying cow's milk now days, unless I have a specific recipe or something that calls for it. Cheese, on the other hand, I can't see myself giving up any time soon!

Yes, longer fridge life is a nice benefit. I have some heavy cream for baking, but use soy milk fine in most sweet recipes.

There's more variation in alternative milks, even within one type, than cow milk. We're mostly soymilk (bean milk, the kids call it), but it took a little while to find one that didn't feel chalky or weird. Happily it's the store brand that's $2 a half gallon. Settled on soy creamer, which is not as thick as dairy creamer but next best thing among non-dairy that tastes good.

With you on cheese! It's what makes plant burgers taste good.

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#98

Post by Reason077 »

unicornporn wrote: post #56
Reason077 wrote: post #22

I'm not vegan or anything, but I've found oat milk not only tastes great on cereal etc, but it also keeps fresh for much longer in the fridge. I've pretty much given up buying cow's milk now days, unless I have a specific recipe or something that calls for it. Cheese, on the other hand, I can't see myself giving up any time soon!

When it comes to Oatly... It tastes good, but that's because it contains plenty of sugars. You'll notice the difference when you make your own oat milk from oats. It's tastes quite terrible actually. Oatly adds enzymes to break down the starches to sugar. https://www.gq.com/story/oatly-nutrition-ipo

> "When it comes to Oatly... It tastes good, but that's because it contains plenty of sugars."

Absolutely, but that's also true of cows milk. The sugars in oat milk are a bit simpler (primarily maltose rather than lactose), which gives a lower glycemic index, but the total sugar content isn't much different.

Either way, if you compare them to something like fruit juice or full-sugar soft drinks, the sugar content is still pretty low.

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#99

Post by chrisweekly »

I'm not vegan but my teenage daughter is, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it's been to remove most dairy from my diet. I was extremely skeptical when it came to things like ice cream, but Ben and Jerry's has non-dairy versions of a bunch of their best flavors, and I now actually prefer them. When it comes to liquid milk alternatives, IMHO Califia original unsweetened almond milk is the tastiest option, but Oatly makes good stuff too.

I heard a convincing argument (tho citation needed, I guess) that veal meat is usually sourced from dairy cows' male offspring. And the idea of keeping dairy cows in a state of perpetual pregnancy is kind of off-putting too.

YMMV, but for my family, the health benefits, and animal welfare / humane farming concerns, and viable (tasty!) alternatives, were enough to make the switch an easy decision. Adding climate change impact and I feel even better about it.

Re: Milk alternatives produce up to 4.5x less greenhouse gas emissions as milk

#100

Post by morsch »

unnouinceput wrote: post #28

Is this another story in the big oil agenda to throw dirt on anything else, see what sticks and keep the eyes off of their dirty doings? Remember folks, over 50% of pollution is done by fossil extracting industry. How about start heavily invest in clean, or at least cleaner, energy production instead of getting this crap on HN front page. Flagged this crap.

Presumably you're referring to this report: https://www.resourcepanel.org/reports/global-resources-outlo...

"The extraction and processing of natural resources has accelerated over the last two decades, and accounts for more than 90 per cent of our biodiversity loss and water stress and approximately half of our climate change impacts."

This includes farming, as well as extraction of fossil fuels, minerals etc. In fact, the climate change impact of farming (biomass extraction) is about the same as fossil fuel extraction, according to that study.

Here's a guardian article about the report (but the official summary is also very readable): https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/12/resource...

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