Posted: Jul 29, 2015 9:16 am
purplerat wrote:
So if I buy a Raspberry Wheat Ale, brewed with real raspberries, I should expect that beer to have the the nutritional value of raspberries?
To extend that even further, should labels not include any ingredients which when processed do not have the same nutritional value as if they were eaten whole or raw?
C''mon now! The first part of your post is drifting towards absurdity. Is it reasonable to think that any consumer is purchasing their ale based on nutritional needs?
Isn't is reasonable to state that when a consumer is purchasing a milk substitute as a replacement for dairy milk, be it almond milk, cashew milk or soy milk, that the choice is being made largely with nutrition in mind?
Now the second part of your post is a more fair question. Omitting ingredients altogether would be a deal breaker, I would hope so, because not including them on the list at all would be troublesome indeed.
Your question does give me a chance to nuance my position a bit though. Whitewave's Silk Almond milk formulation is sufficiently fortified with vitamins and minerals (albeit necessarily and arguably so due to their natural content having been plucked out during processing) to the extent that if the class action were to go against them, that it'd be taken into consideration. Blue Diamond needs a comeuppance. Both companies are producing this product irresponsibly merely due to the lack of protein alone IMHO.
Allow me to restate my main concern. Imagine a father or mother, shopping at the grocery store. They have all the best intentions of providing the highest quality nutrition for their children. They wheel past the beverage section where milk is sold, and notice for the very first time that almond milk is on offer. "Why look at that, a milk substitute based on almonds!"
They are somewhat nutritionally conscious, but fail to analyze the nutrition facts rigorously. They make even read the ingredient list, but what they there see doesn't impact their ultimate decision.
They purchase the product as a direct replacement for dairy milk, perhaps basing the decision on its lower caloric content and/or lower fat content, etc. In other words, they make a decision based on a partial analysis.
Well guess what, they just created a protein deficit for their child. Not only that, but they've also created a phosphorus deficit. So what, one might ask. Do I need explain the problem with their having reduced the protein intake of their growing child?
With phosphorus, is that such a big deal? Well, phosphorus is a very key nutrient, being a component of a compound that has been described as the coin of the realm with respect to cellular biology:
adenosine triphosphate
After all, it's very key to the biological processes of both glycolysis and the citric acid cycle and those are just for starters.
These are not trivial things people.
I could go on, but isn't that enough?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Another thing, unrelated to your post: What exactly is happening with the sum total of the almond matter excised out from the almond milk production?
I would hope that at least they're doing something useful with it, at a minimum, making marzipan!
Perhaps they're using it to fortify other products or selling it to a dietary supplement manufacturer. I'm not so cynical to think that that they're throwing it away, at least at this point in time. Blip, enjoy your coffee!
A very good use of almond milk, even in its current composition. Love your kitteh! Have for years. 