Almond Milk vs. Cow's Milk

I get to eat a few more bites of cereal with the calories saved?! And I think it stays fresher longer, so I waste less. I'm not really a milk drinker either way.

I drink both. Depends on my mood. Cow's milk has more protein. Almond milk has less calories, more calcium. Sometimes, I buy the Silk Chocolate Almond milk if I want dessert. It's 100 cals a glass. Otherwise, I usually just stick with the dairy, but I don't drink a ton of milk anyway.

Adequate protein intake and strength training also protect bone health.

Almond milk has more calcium than cows milk, and I personally believe that people shouldn't drink baby cows milk. We are not built to digest it, but that is my personal opinion. I have not drunk cows milk ever (I'm weird I have had a phobia of it all my life) and have had no medical problems because of it.

. It's bad for bone health.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/22081694/

Some authors have suggested that dairy products are not helpful and perhaps detrimental to bone health because higher osteoporotic fracture incidence is observed in countries with higher dairy product consumption. However, scientific evidence does not support any of these claims.

Double posted instead of editing.

if you're lactose intolerant or allergic to anything in cow's milk, then yes there is a lot of benefit in not drinking it.

if you're not, then there isn't. Almond milk doesn't have anything like the same nutrition as cows milk. From a cooking and meal prep point of view, maybe one can be substituted for another, but from a nutritional point of view, they're very different and one should not be considered as a substitute for the other

Dairy (provided you can digest it) gives you protein, healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins. Some kinds of dairy products e.g. natural yoghurt, laban, are naturally probiotic and help you to maintain a healthy gut flora. Some kinds of dairy products, e.g. labeneh/greek yoghurt, cottage cheese, are high in protein and low in calories so help to ensure you get enough protein withot going over your calorie goal. So for those who can digest it, it's a good food. Also even for people who are lactose intolerant, some dairy products are very low in lactose and may be able to be consumed safely, it depends on the individual and how severe the intolerance is. This may not be true for milk allergy as even small amounts of the offending proteins can still trigger allergic reactions.

Personally, if I wanted the nutritional benefits of almond milk, I'd cut out the middle man and just eat the almonds. You remove some of the nutrition from almonds when you make them into milk. (although I'm not keen on almonds personally, I prefer cashews and pistachios which are also very nutritious, but still won't give you the protein that you get from milk). But if I couldn't drink milk and wanted a milk substitute for recipes, meals etc, I'd go with the almond milk for that reason and get my protein, healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins elsewhere.

How do you milk and almond?

I drink an almond/coconut blend that is 45 calories per cup rather than the 90 calories per cup in skim milk. I do this simply for the calorie savings and because it's absolutely delicious in cereal. It allows me to eat cereal that has no sugar and still have a bit of a sweet taste. I also drink it because it lasts much longer in the fridge and I am the only one in my house that consumes milk.

*edited to add* I drink the Blue Diamond Almond Coconut milk. Very good stuff.

re prevention of osteoporosis, the major factors are hormones and weight bearing exercise. Adequate calcium intake is also very important, but bone mineralisation may fail to occur even with adequate calcium intake if these other factors are not present


1. weight bearing exercise - bone is a dynamic tissue just like muscle is, i.e. it's a case of use it or lose it, and if you want more of it you have to load it with enough weight. So while strength training is usually recommended for building and maintaining muscle mass, it's also very important for building and maintaining bone density. All weight bearing exercise has an effect, even walking, but the more weight you put on your bones, the more they'll adapt by laying down more minerals, just like how muscles are stimulated by walking but heavy lifting can make them much stronger than walking can

2. hormones - some of the human sex hormones have a role in bone mineralisation. Too low levels of these, which can occur as a result of insufficient food intake or too low levels of body fat, can cause minerals to be lost from the skeleton. Women are particular at risk from this, especially after the menopause, due to the natural decline of sex hormones. However men are at risk too if they undereat to the point that their sperm count is affected (this too is the result of too low levels of sex hormones). In women, if menstruation stops because of insufficient food intake, then there's a high likelihood that minerals are being lost from the bones as well. In men, it's harder to tell that this is happening and he may not notice that his sperm count has dropped because his semen looks the same. However for both males and females there are other signs of chronic undereating that indicate that sex hormone levels are too low and there's a risk that bone minerals are being lost.


So the take home message from that is for bone health, 1. eat enough food generally, 2. do exercise that puts weight on your bones and 3. eat enough calcium (from dairy or greens, it doesn't matter, but if you are intolerant or allergic to dairy then you need to eat greens to get calcium.... dairy eating people should still eat greens for iron and folic acid and stuff though!!) ... and there's an extra take-home message for women.... strength training even after the menopause goes a long way to limiting the loss of bone minerals after your menstrual cycle stops. Traditional societies that don't have high rates of osteoporosis in elderly women, usually you'll find that people are very active and even old women walk long distances and/or do lifting and carrying and stay active into old age (ditto old men)........ no need to be scared of dairy if you can digest it fine, but avoid being sedentary.


Note: cessation of menstruation due to pregnancy and breastfeeding does not cause female sex hormone levels to drop, just that the hormones are different to support pregnancy and breastfeeding. That said, you need more calcium, especially when breastfeeding, as you need calcium for the baby too. During breastfeeding, your baby is laying down minerals in his or her own bones, you need a LOT of calcium while breastfeeding, if you're not eating enough it'll go from your own bones into your milk for your baby. So eat plenty of calcium while breastfeeding.

Up to you!

Almond milk has less calories ( than even soy Silk milk ). It also has vitamins and minerals in it as well. I use almond milk to bake and it works really well. I like that it is low in calories, although its only slightly less than skim milk. I like almond better than skim; tastes better.

However, almond milk is more expensive. But it also has a longer shelf life.

If I buy milk, it always goes to waste because I don't use it. If I buy Silk or almond milk, I usually use it all by the shelf date ending.

Almond milk taste nasty, cow milk is yummy.

I personally like to rotate between Almond, Soy, Rice and Coconut just to prevent developing an allergy to any of them. I prefer milk from the cow, but it goes bad before I can use it up so I switched to alternate milks, but was disappointed to learn that they lack the protein of cows milk. Also, there are other ingredients in the alternate milks that to me render it questionable as a healthy milk alternative. I think it's great for people who really have a problem with cows milk.

I like Almond Milk better.