Assessing the Nutrient Content of Plant-Based Milk Alternative Products Available in the United States

Consumption of plant-based milk alternatives is increasing. Current dietary guidance primarily relies on dairy milk as a source of key nutrients of public health concern including calcium and vitamin D.

To compare the nutritional content of plant-based milk alternatives between categories (eg, soy, almond, and oat) and with dairy milk.

This study presents an evaluation of the nutritional content of 219 plant-based milk alternatives from 21 brands available in the US marketplace using data from the University of Minnesota Nutrition Coordinating Center's database.

Nutrients of focus include those identified as nutrients of public health concern in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans or used by the US Department of Agriculture as criteria for determining whether a plant-based milk is a suitable substitute for dairy milk.

Most data are presented as percent Daily Values. Nutrients and food components were compared using means, medians, IQRs, and ranges. Statistical tests for significance were not used to evaluate between category differences because the plant-based milk alternatives included are a full census of the products from 21 brands available in the marketplace. Because data are a census, differences can be understood to be true differences.

Fortified soy-based products most closely mimic the nutrient content of dairy milk. High variability was present in all the nutrients and food components. Plant-based milk alternatives were generally lower in protein and saturated fatty acids than dairy milk, with high variability in added sugars content. Approximately 70% were fortified with both calcium and vitamin D.

These results indicate that most plant-based milk alternative products are not nutritionally equivalent to dairy milk, and there is high nutritional variability between and within product types. These findings highlight the importance of communicating the nutritional differences between plant-based milk alternatives and dairy milk to consumers.