Quaker Bets Oat Milk Is More Than Just a Passing Fad

I'm fascinated by the milk-substitute craze. I'm allergic to whey, to casein and lactose intolerant - a dietary hat trick. For about 45 years I've done almost exclusively w/o milk or milk substitute. I'm also allergic to legumes so soy doesn't help. I do miss ice cream and occasionally buy those substitutes but most things work fine with water. Pancakes made with cider are wonderful though a bit prone to sticking. I eat well and know a thousand recipe substitutions. One of my brothers is allergic to both eggs and milk. Eggs are much trickier to do without.

I like Silk protein nutmilk (almond/cashew). The plain has only 2g of sugar. It's delicious with low sugar cereal, such as Cheerios. Though Whole Foods and a few other grocery stores carry it, it's widely available. I do not drink animal milk.

I drink almond milk (Silk, Almond Breeze, Whole Foods, Organic, etc.) regularly and I really like it, since it helps me with my lactose intolerant. That being said, I will try this new Quaker Oat Beverage, but I doubt I will like it.

The main benefits of dairy are calcium and protein, not fiber. Yes, the lactose intolerant (and vegans) must get those from other sources, but where will those simply following a "healthy" (and expensive) craze get their calcium? Milk (the real thing) is especially important for growing children. Let's hope parents don't decide that alternatives are 'healthier' thus depriving their children of what their bodies need.

Being lactose intolerant, I've tried several milk alternatives, including Oatly. Now being used to almond milk, it was a little rich to me; but I'm up to trying it again. For those with the time, most of these milks can be made at home. And then (assuming you trust your source) you don't have to worry about what's been put into them.

I see comments saying Almond milk is environmentally unhealthy , too much water? I slso see comments saying grain, nut based is a “a lot healthier on the environment”. Can anyone point to a couple mostly no political articles? Know almonds as grown in Calif. use a lot of water, cattle have waste run off. Oats? Appreciate a pointer here.

I happen to be one of those people who won't drink dairy products regularly. I grew up in a household with a severe lactose intolerance. By about age 5, our milk consumption consisted primarily of hard cheese or dairy substitutes. Silk was a well known staple in our household. The habit stuck. To this day, I avoid cooking with straight milk wherever possible. Cream and butter are almost strictly forbidden. That said, we really don't need seventeen brands of almond milk in every grocery store. We are literally talking about the quintessential homogeneous product. You look in any economic textbook under "homogeneous" and I guarantee you'll find an example with milk. Milk is milk is milk. You can't differentiate a product that is almost universally the same. If it comes out of a cow, you have milk. I feel the same way about all these other competing milk products. Options are good but don't pretend you're different. Unless the milk has gone sour, I really don't care what the label says. If I were forced to choose between oat milks, I would take the most locally responsible option that was tolerably free of bad farming practices. Needless to say, PepsiCo does not qualify under these criteria. We honestly buy most of our dairy from the people at the farmers market anyway. I can talk to the person milking the cow or milling the plant. Now that's service.

Huzzah - I’m all in favor of anything that encourages people to try non- dairy alternatives/milks. Even on the most humane farms, calves are taken from their mothers shortly after birth: males to become veal, and females to be returned to a life of forced lactation.

What percentage of Glysophate will it feature?

It has come out to the public s attention that Almond milk is a bit phony ,as the way the almonds are processed in water the almonds do not contribute anything to bone health. So one is left paying for expensive non almond derived calcium ,the company adds calcium ,ending up that we pay a lot for a very inexpensive calcium pill .so to speak. Now we have to look into this new oat drink to see what's what!

A few years ago I switched from skim (cow) milk to whole fat (cow) milk. I have lost weight. Go figure.

If it is not permitted to call plant-based 'milk' milk lest the consumer be confused, then it should also not be permitted to call hunting 'harvesting.' And it is a miracle that consumers do not seem to be scratching their heads as to whether peanut butter comes from cows.

Oat beverage? Sounds like what you are left with at the end of a bowl of cereal. Also, I find the fight over calling these drinks milk to be fascinating. Semantic warfare.

I got a headache just from looking at the Dairy Free selection depicted in the wonderfully dizzy and busy and overwhelming photo taken by An Rong Xu. I feel bad for folks who have lactose intolerant issues and must go the way of dairy free in order to derive some degree of satisfaction which many folks like myself take for granted. However, I'm not too sure about an oat "beverage" although I can picture myself pouring that stuff over a bowl of hot, steamy oatmeal on a cold, chilly December morning, and saying to myself "Nothing is Better for Me than Thee". The only thing that keeps bugging me is how in the world does Quacker get liquid out of a stalk of wheat? I would really like to know what's involved in their process and what materials are used. But then maybe I don't want to know - kind of like don't ask how hot dogs are made mentality.

I'm in favor of any plant-based beverage but not from a conglomerate, which probably uses lots of herbicides/pesticides and practices mono culture farming, which is great for the stock price, but bad for body and the planet.

Do not trust any processed food.

Marion Nestle misses one of theajor points as to why people are drinking and using plant milks: in the case of Oat and Soy milk - they're a lot lighter on the environment.

It's not milk unless it comes from an animal with mammary glands. Characteristics of mammals; has mammary glands and produces milk. All these plant based white products are just juice.

It will also help in efforts to combat climate change.

I have used light soy vanilla "milk" for most of my life for the current dairy industry treatment of animals make me sick. I would be interested in Quakers Oat milk yet have concerns about the recent revelations that the company uses oats from farmers who use the herbicide glyphosate, and tests show many of their products contain excessive amounts of this toxin. http://fortune.com/2018/08/15/roundup-in-cheerios-weed-killer/ When, and if--studies prove Quaker Oat "milk" has been produced safely--- then I will give it a try.

I use Almond Milk now. I think I'd like to see the pricing on Quaker Oat Beverage and try it out. Growing Almond trees to the extent that we are is not health for the environment, the tree use too much water.

I will boycott this product, Pepsi is not pulling out of the Saudi conference.

Sounds like they captured their market share.

I would have liked a more in-depth discussion about how these 'milks' are produced. Squeezed juice from the base nut or grain? How many bushels of oats need to be squeezed or processed to get a gallon of 'milk' from them? How about the left overs? Can they be used in other human foods, or just fodder for a feedlot somewhere? I know that almond 'milk' is extraordinarily wasteful of limited water supplies in areas of this country where the rivers are already being stressed. Information about source, process, other materials added to the mix to get 'milk' and so on would have made this a much stronger article.

Now that American Dairy farmers have access to Canada,I wonder where the market for plant based milk will go!

I'm not interested if the oats are gmo's.