To call it a fall from grace would be an understatement. Oat milk, the once-niche vegan product turned uber-trendy dairy alternative, is falling out of favour with health gurus.
Critics are taking to social media in droves to raise the alarm, after research suggested it might not be as saintly as it is often portrayed.Â
And the news may come as a shock to the quarter of the UK population who admit to drinking it regularly – no doubt in part motivated by previous claims that it was healthier than dairy.
In one TikTok video, New York nursing student Calvin Tanny – who appears to be in his 20s – shared a video of himself throwing away a carton of oat milk.Â
Oat milk is almost all carbohydrate, says one nutrition specialist
He claimed he’d just been diagnosed with high cholesterol, and that his doctor told him his daily matcha oat milk lattes were to blame. ‘Oat milk is bad for cholesterol???’ wrote one follower in response. ‘Nooooooooooo!’ Exclaimed another, simply.
So is oat milk really that bad for us? ‘Oat milk is almost all carbohydrate,’ says nutrition specialist Sarah Carolides. ‘There are between 15 and 20 grams of carbs in a glass of oat milk, compared with around eight grams of carbs in a glass of dairy milk.
‘This means it’s high calorie but with very little protein, so it won’t keep you full for very long. And then there are the emulsifiers, which keep the oat milk from separating, sweeteners and other additives found in commercial brands. If you’re having several oat milk lattes a day, it may become an issue.’
French biochemist Jessie Inchauspe went viral earlier this year for explaining the spike in blood sugar levels – and the subsequent dip – that occurs after drinking an oat milk latte.
‘Oat milk comes from oats. Oats are a grain and grains are starch. So when you’re drinking oat milk, you’re drinking starch juice,’ she said in a video viewed more than five million times.
‘You’re drinking juice with a lot of glucose in it, so it leads to a big glucose spike. If you’re having oat milk because you think it’s healthier, just switch. Go back to whole milk or unsweetened nut milk.’
Glucose spikes occur when there is more sugar in the bloodstream than the cells can use for energy. These rapid increases are followed by sharp drops, and this can lead to hunger pangs. In the long term, regular glucose spikes have been linked to the development of type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
But what about all the research that showed oats in the diet can actually lower cholesterol?
This may be because so-called ‘barista editions’ of oat milk – used in many drinks bought from coffee shops – are only about 10 per cent oat. The rest is water mixed with oils and emulsifiers that keep the ingredients blended and allow it to froth like dairy milk when heated.
And these oils can still contribute to raised cholesterol levels when consumed excessively, says Dr Oliver Guttmann, consultant cardiologist at The Wellington Hospital in London.
‘Oats, eaten in porridge for instance, can actually lower cholesterol over time as they have lots of fibre, and fibre decreases cholesterol,’ he says. ‘But drinking the frothy kind of oat milk that has a higher fat content could cause high cholesterol if you’re drinking it in excess.’
On top of this, diets that are high in sugar cause the liver to create more of the ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol and can lower levels of the ‘good’ HDL cholesterol. ‘Whereas we always thought that saturated fats were bad for cholesterol, it’s now become increasingly recognised that sugars in the diet can also affect it,’ says nutritionist Ms Carolides. ‘This may well be why there are anecdotal reports of people lowering their cholesterol levels when they switch away from oat milk.’
She adds: ‘A small amount of oat milk in one coffee a day will not be a problem. But a few large servings are pretty much empty calories that are keeping your carbohydrate and salt levels up and not much else.’
Speaking to The Mail on Sunday, one woman revealed how she had been told she had high cholesterol at just 23 years old, despite being a slim non-smoker with a seemingly healthy diet.
Student Miranda – who asked to remain anonymous – said: ‘I was told to change my diet, and after doing some research I realised the oat milk that I had in my daily iced latte may be the cause.
‘After cutting it out and instead eating a bowl of porridge every day, my cholesterol went down – and that was the only change I made.’
…and other options aren’t great either
It’s not just oat milk in the spotlight – coconut milk, which is often used in frothy hot milk drinks, is high in saturated fat
and can cause cholesterol levels to spike, experts warn.
In fact, just one cup of coconut milk makes up almost a quarter of the average adult’s daily saturated fat intake.
‘While coconut milk sold in a carton in the milk aisle is a more diluted product than the type of canned coconut milk used for cooking, it still can contain more fat than some other milk alternatives and is fairly low in protein,’ nutritionist Clarissa Lenherr warns.
While a cup of skimmed milk contains roughly 8g of protein, the same amount of coconut milk contains none.
‘Coconut milk can sometimes contain gums that are used as thickeners, and if not, many brands add rice milk to it, so always check the labels,’ Ms Lenherr adds.
Many plant-based milks that are claimed to have no added sugar still contain rice milk as a sweetener. Like sugar, however, rice milk has a high glycaemic index and carbohydrate content, which can impact blood sugar levels.
Rice milk is also not recommended for children under the age of five due to the small levels of arsenic that it contains.
