I’ve not been getting out as much during Covid, as such I’ve tried to reduce my caloric intake. One way I tried to do this, was to switch the kind of milk I drink. This also had a secondary impact on reducing my environmental impact. However, while researching the various milks, I couldn’t find one source that put both nutritional information, and the environmental impact of the various milks in one place. This article does just that.
During my research, I found there are minor differences in the US and UK in how they represent this data. For example, a UK serving size is 200ml, whereas in the US it’s 1 cup (or ~240ml). I’ve normalised all values to the UK serving size.
| Type | Emissions (Kg) |
Land Usage (m2) |
Water Usage (L) |
Variant | Calories (kcals) |
Calcium (mg) |
Fat (g) |
Sat Fat (g) |
Sugar (g) |
Protein (g) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dairy (Cow's) Milk | 0.630 | 1.790 | 125.64 | Whole | 120 | 246 | 6.40 | 3.72 | 9.62 | 6.56 | (source) |
| Dairy (Cow's) Milk | 0.630 | 1.790 | 125.64 | Whole (Lactose free) | 120 | 246 | 6.40 | 3.72 | 9.62 | 6.56 | (source) |
| Dairy (Cow's) Milk | 0.630 | 1.790 | 125.64 | Reduced fat (2%) | 100 | 252 | 3.80 | 2.22 | 9.78 | 6.70 | (source) |
| Dairy (Cow's) Milk | 0.630 | 1.790 | 125.64 | Fat free (skim) | 68 | 264 | 0.16 | 0.10 | 10.10 | 6.86 | (source) |
| Rice Milk | 0.236 | 0.067 | 53.96 | Rice Milk | 94 | 236 | 1.94 | 0.00 | 10.56 | 0.56 | (source) |
| Soy Milk | 0.196 | 0.132 | 5.56 | Soy Milk | 86 | 246 | 2.94 | 0.41 | 7.30 | 5.20 | (source) |
| Oat Milk | 0.181 | 0.152 | 9.65 | OATLY! (Brand) | 100 | 292 | 4.16 | 0.42 | 5.84 | 2.50 | (source) |
| Almond Milk | 0.140 | 0.099 | 74.29 | Sweetened | 60 | 354 | 1.86 | 0.15 | 9.54 | 0.76 | (source) |
| Almond Milk | 0.140 | 0.099 | 74.29 | Unsweetened | 30 | 368 | 1.92 | 0.16 | 1.62 | 0.80 | (source) |
| Goat’s Milk | ? | ? | ? | Whole | 138 | 268 | 8.28 | 5.33 | 8.90 | 7.12 | (source) |
| Coconut Milk | ? | ? | ? | Coconut Milk | 62 | 376 | 4.16 | 4.17 | 5.00 | 0.42 | (source) |
| Flax Hemp Milk | ? | ? | ? | Flax Hemp Milk | 38 | 24 | 2.50 | 0.00 | 0.84 | 1.66 | (source) |
| Human Milk | ? | ? | ? | Human Milk | 140 | 64 | 8.76 | 0.64 | 13.78 | 2.06 | (source) |
| Chocolate Milk | ? | ? | ? | Chocolate Milk | 98 | 200 | 0.80 | 0.02 | 17.36 | 1.28 | (source) |
| Environment Impact per 200ml (source) | Nutritional Information per 200g (which is approx 200ml) | ||||||||||
I’m not going to provide any kind of editorial, I just wanted all the data in one place. The data is sourced from the following locations.
General Comparison:
- Heathline: Comparing Milks: Almond, Dairy, Soy, Rice, and Coconut
- BBC Good Food: Which milk is right for you?
Environment:
- The Guardian: Almonds are out. Dairy is a disaster. So what milk should we drink?
- Edible Brooklyn: Which Plant-Based Milk Is Best for the Environment?
- BBC: Climate change: Which vegan milk is best?
- Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers. Science, 360(6392), 987–992.
Nutritional: