Posted by kathryn in Uncategorized

The eagle-eyed among you will have noted Q & A Month is turning into Q & A Six-Weeks! It’s proved very popular. I still have a question backlog to get through. But I’m hoping to finish with a flurry and answer the rest over the next seven days. Hoping anyway.

Moving quickly along then – the next question is from Claire and it’s about rice milk:

I would like to know if there is something wrong with drinking rice milk instead of soy or cow milk. I especially like it to cook porridge, as it is naturally sweet. But I always wonder if that sweetness doesn’t make it a milk to avoid . . . especially after reading everything you posted about high GI rices!

Nutrition value of rice milk

Like most rice, rice milk does have a high GI. While most soy milks hover around the 40 mark and cow’s milk is about 30, rice milk makes it all the way up to 79.

Here’s a run-down of the basic nutrient content of rice milk, compared to soy and cow’s:

• Kilojoules per 100ml: Rice milk 212kJ; Soy milk 271kJ; Skim milk 144kJ
• Protein: Rice milk 0.3% ; Soy milk 3.3%; Skim milk 3.6%
• Carbohydrate: Rice milk 10%; Soy milk 6%; Skim milk 5%
• Fat: Rice milk 1%; Soy milk 3%; Skim milk 0.2%
• Fibre: Rice milk <1%; Soy milk <1%; Skim milk 0%
• Calcium per 100ml: Rice milk 120mg; Soy milk varies but about 120mg; Skim milk 123mg

Is it healthy?

But . . . answering the “is it healthy” question is a lot more complex.

We as humans often like things to be black and white. And this is true of food. The answer to the question of is a food healthy is invariably it depends.

There are very few foods that are completely and utterly un-healthy. While there are also few foods that are 100 percent healthy. Instead everything lies somewhere between these two ends of the spectrum. All food has good and bad points. And whether it’s healthy or not depends on:

• what else you’re eating
• you’re level of activity
• if you have any health issues
• how much of that food you’re eating

A good example of this is rice milk. It’s high GI means it’s not the best food if you are trying to lose weight or have insulin resistance or diabetes.

Also if it was a major part of your daily diet and you were drinking several glassfuls a day, I’d caution you to cut down. It’s low protein and micronutrient content, means you’d be better off varying your diet and filling up on some other foods.

But if you’re soy and cow’s milk intolerant, rice milk is an obvious choice, no matter the GI.

Moreover, if none of these are you. And you enjoy rice milk in moderation, to sweeten up your morning porridge – then go right ahead.

What is Q & A Month?

This post is part of Q & A Month. For those of you new to Limes & Lycopene, I usually run a fortnightly question and answer forum, called Q & A Thursday. But for the next four weeks, it’s Q & A Month. For more information you can take a look at the Q & A Thursday archives.

Milk photograph by Steven’s Photography under the terms of a Creative Commons license.

16 February, 2008