Lactose-Free Milk — All milk, no FODMAPs
Welcome to the last in my series looking at milk alternatives. In this final installment I look at lactose-free dairy milk. Don’t forget to check out the video of the FoodMarble taste test at the end!
This is the seventh and final blog in my series looking at different plant-based and lactose-free milks. The first six I looked at were all plant-based, vegan milks — pea milk, coconut milk, rice milk, almond milk, soya milk and tiger nut milk. This final milk is not plant-based, but is dairy milk with lactase enzyme added to remove the lactose, making it a viable alternative for people with lactose intolerance or a sensitivity to FODMAPs to enjoy.
Note that because this milk does come from cows you will not get the lower carbon footprint and environmental benefits of other plant-based milks. I included this in the taste test as a curve-ball to throw off the competitors as this one should be the most similar to the dairy based milk in terms of texture and taste.
In terms of ingredients this particular brand has semi skimmed milk (90%), water and lactase enzyme. The only health claim on the packaging is that it is low fat. Let’s check its nutritional content.
We can see a close resemblance between the two in most of the nutritional stats, with it being lower fat as it used semi skimmed milk. Also, the sugar content is lower as lactose, a sugar, has been removed. Flavor wise, only one team successfully guessed this one during the taste test, which was surprising! As the lactose has been removed this should be safe for people avoiding FODMAPs.
So, which milk is right for me?
To recap, the milks I’ve featured in this series are:
- Pea milk
- Coconut milk
- Rice milk
- Roasted almond milk
- Soya milk
- Tiger nut milk
- Lactose-free dairy milk
If you’ve read through them all, that’s a lot of data and discussion of mostly non-dairy alternatives, but the question remains, which one should you use? The answer to this all depends on your needs and tolerances. If you are looking for the most complete substitute then pea milk or soya milk does the best job, depending on how much you care about carbohydrate content and other additives. Rice, lactose-free and tiger nut milks are the best for IBS sufferers as they have the lowest FODMAP content. If your only requirement is to avoid lactose, all of these are great alternatives. With modern food science any nutritional short coming in calcium or vitamins can be improved with fortification. It is also worth considering the environmental impact; dairy farming can have a large impact in this aspect, and a lot of people would consider switching to a plant-based alternative to reduce their carbon footprint.
So, if you particularly like one, look around and you will find your favorite with your desired nutrition. At the end of the day there is plenty to consider when picking a non-dairy alternative to milk, and we hope this series has shed some light on the subject.
The FoodMarble Taste Test!
For a bit of fun, I challenged some of the FoodMarble team to a blind taste test, to see how many they could identify. Considering the team, I figured that the best way to get them to try a variety of mystery milks was to mix it with coffee! Indeed, the idea of drinking seven cups of coffee had a lot of my colleagues excited. Each group of two had seven cups of half milk, half coffee placed in front of them and after trying all seven, they guessed each one. They got a point for each correct answer.
Let’s see how they got on!
FoodMarble AIRE is the world’s first personal hydrogen breath tester. It is a pocket-sized breath analysis device. It helps people with chronic digestive issues determine the foods that work best with their digestive system. To learn more about FoodMarble, visit foodmarble.com or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn!
