quote:<HR>Originally posted by runrgrl1:
I'm just wondering, though, what's so great about soy milk vs. regular skim milk? <HR>

It's lower in everything regular milk gives you, including calcium and protein.

If you're lactose intolerant drink Lactaid.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Sue in NYC:
It's lower in everything regular milk gives you, including calcium and protein.

If you're lactose intolerant drink Lactaid.<HR>

If it's enriched (most are), it has 1-2 grams less protein than milk (a negligible difference), as much calcium, as much Vitamin D, more B-12, more iron, more fiber and more of other vitamins and minerals, but I'm too lazy to go look at the packaging right now. If the milk is not skim, it also has less cholesterol and saturated fat. If the soymilk is unsweetened, it also has less sugar than skim milk; if it's sweetened they're about equivalent in sugar.

But of course we don't need to drink ANY kind of milk (animal or vegetable) to get ANY of the things that milk contains.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Ariann:
If it's enriched (most are), it has 1-2 grams less protein than milk (a negligible difference), as much calcium, as much Vitamin D, more B-12, more iron, more fiber and more of other vitamins and minerals, but I'm too lazy to go look at the packaging right now.<HR>

Well, I did some supermarket shelf research, and the "Soy Dream" and the rest of them don't substantiate your claim.

And Silk Plain (sweetened): (Silk is probably the most popular brand of soy milk out there and occupies the most shelf-space of both Whole Foods and my local supermarket)

Calories: 100
Fat 4 g
Protein 7 g
Fiber 1 g
Sugar 6 g (The unsweetened version has 1 g of sugar)
Sodium 120 mg
Potassium 300 mg
Vitamin A 10%
Calcium 30%
Vitamin D 30%
Iron 6 %
Folate 6%
Riboflavin 30%
B12 50%
Zinc 4%
Vitamin C 0%

Shoprite Brand Vanilla (obviously, sweetened)

Calories 90
Fat 3.5 g
Protein 6 g
Fiber 2 g
Sugar 6 g
Sodium 160 mg
Potassium 560 mg
Vitamin A 10%
Calcium 30%
Vitamin D 30%
Folate 15%
Iron 8%
Riboflavin 40%
B12 50%
Zinc 10%
Thiamin 6%
B6 4%
Magnesium 20%
Copper 25%
Manganese 20%
Phosphorous 8%
Vitamin E 25%
Vitamin C 0%

I mean, seriously, it's not even a contest. I don't know what kind of sad soy milk availability you have, Sue, but most of the soy milks in my local Whole Foods (and ALL the soy milks in my local supermarket, ShopRite) are enriched with, at bare minimum, calcium, Vitamin D and Vitamin A, and they are basically along the lines of what I and EntropysDad have posted. The more sweetened soy milks are, the lower the protein as compared to sugar. However, the ones I posted (which are representative of the brands with the biggest shelf-space at every single store I've been to) are either equivalent to or superior to milk, nutritionally. The major issues are added sugars and lack of enrichment (even cows' milk is enriched, of course, so it is truly ridiculous to compare enriched cows' milk with non-enriched soy milk), which are easily eliminated with about two seconds of browsing.

Also, to rnrgirl, the soy milks and cows' milks at my local rinky-**** supermarket are the EXACT SAME PRICE for the same size containers. At the Whole Foods, the soy milk is generally CHEAPER than the regular milk. The only exceptions are the difficult to find brands or the ones that use all organic ingredients (such as EdenSoy). But again, think about the price of organic milk and they are comparable.

**Good reasons not to drink soy milk: you love cow milk, you don't like soy milk.**

Bad reasons to not drink soy milk as long as you have even a minimal selection: nutritional differences, price.

My Rice Dream Enriched container reads "30% Calcium." I think someone has their info wrong.

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Sue in NYC:
Yeah, whomever typed in the nutritional information I quoted from.

Anyway, the point is simply that there's no nutritional advantage to using cow's milk substitutes unles you have ethical concerns or believe that dairy cattle are all overdosed on drugs and hormones. I don't.<HR>

I think the key is that some of the products are fortified, some are not. In reading labels, you can easily find which ones are fortified.