Oat Milk

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Jasonuk

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Type 2
I’m type 2 and looking for info re oat milk.

The packaging says it’s carbs is 6.8g of which sugar 3.1g

Normal semi skimmed milk is carbs 4.8g of which sugar 4.8g

I read some where re oat milk and maltose and sugar spikes.

Can anyone advise am I better staying with semi skimmed or can I drink Oat milk in my coffee . I just thought looking at sugar content the oat was better for but not sure.

Any advice would be good
 
How much are you drinking? If it’s a splash in your coffee it’s not going to make much difference as quantity is tiny. If you’re having a large latte with a few hundred ml of milk then it might make a difference.
 
Lattes, porridge and a splash in tea.

I wasn’t sure as online says maltose spikes sugars but sugar content is still lower than semi skimmed. It’s very confusing !!!
 
Easiest way to find out is test your blood sugars, oat milk has more carbs so in large quantities may affect bg more, but depends on the individual
 
So the packet says 3.1g sugar, is that the only sugar or does the maltose produce more that’s not on the packet. Can’t really understand it tbh
 
We use oat milk in cheese sauces as we have vegans in the house. And occasionally someone forgets and puts oat milk in my tea/coffee. I've never really noticed any BG impact more than I'd get with semi-skimmed - which is basically nothing.

We generally have the Alpro 'no sugars' oat milk which is 5.6 g per 100ml, and no sugars (obviously!)
 
It's generally the total carbs you need to look at, not just sugars. I'd say go for whichever you prefer!
 
Thanks I am not using the no sugars one. But from the label still seems less sugar than semi skimmed. Unless this maltose doesn’t show as sugar on the label.
 
Jasonuk said:
Thanks I am not using the no sugars one. But from the label still seems less sugar than semi skimmed. Unless this maltose doesn’t show as sugar on the label.
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I'm pretty sure the maltose would be included in the total carbohydrate, even if there's a digestive step to break it down into the maltose - I can't see how it would make more maltose than the specified total carbs?
 
I swapped from oat milk to Koko coconut milk and prefer it. It also has significantly less carbs. The unsweetened one has 0.3g per 100ml and the sweetened one only has 2.4g. It doesn’t taste overly coconutty and behaves well in hot drinks. Worth a try if you’re not set on oat milk @Jasonuk maybe?
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I'm pretty sure the maltose would be included in the total carbohydrate, even if there's a digestive step to break it down into the maltose - I can't see how it would make more maltose than the specified total carbs?
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Isn't maltose a short chain (2 sucrose glucose molecules)? So the only digestive step is to sugar/sucrose glucose. I think the body usually breaks amylose (starch) into maltose first then into sucrose.
 
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@Jasonuk if you would rather use the oat milk then I would try fingerpricking to see if it has more or less effect than cows milk. Unless you're drinking litres then I don't think it will have a significantly different effect, but you can only be certain of that if you test
 
42istheanswer said:
Isn't maltose a short chain (2 sucrose molecules)? So the only digestive step is to sugar/sucrose. I think the body usually breaks amylose (starch) into maltose first then into sucrose.
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I was just trying to re-engineer the Alpro 'no sugar' nutritional info, where there are carbohydrates listed but no sugars. And maltose is a sugar (I thought). Google tells me it's 2 glucose molecules together, where sucrose is one glucose and one fructose.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
I was just trying to re-engineer the Alpro 'no sugar' nutritional info, where there are carbohydrates listed but no sugars. And maltose is a sugar (I thought). Google tells me it's 2 glucose molecules together, where sucrose is one glucose and one fructose.
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Oops, yes that's what I meant. 2 glucose molecules.

Whereas sucrose is a short chain of one glucose molecule and one fructose molecule - with the fructose needing to be processed by the liver into glucose before it can be used
 
Jasonuk said:
So you’d think it would show as sugar in the nutritional info
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In the nutritional info possibly (not sure tbh). But you could legally market something with added maltose as "no added sugar" as that is legally considered to mean "no added sucrose"
 
42istheanswer said:
In the nutritional info possibly (not sure tbh). But you could legally market something with added maltose as "no added sugar" as that is legally considered to mean "no added sucrose"
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But you’d hope it show maltose sugar in info box
 
Jasonuk said:
am I better staying with semi skimmed or can I drink Oat milk in my coffee
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Personally I use double cream... fewer carbs and extra fat for satiety.
 
Jasonuk said:
But you’d hope it show maltose sugar in info box
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It depends what "of which sugars" means legally. If it also means "sucrose" then maltose would be in the carbohydrate part of the info box but not the "of which sugars".

For diabetes purposes, "total carbohydrate" is the important one to check. That is the one that tells you how much glucose your body will ultimately be having to deal with.
 
I also use double cream or whole cows milk. Cream has less carbs and tastes better and keeps me feeling full for longer.

The thing about all these plant based milks is that they are all quite highly processed foods and yet they are marketed as being healthy.
I buy full fat cows milk which is produced on a farm 8 miles from where I live and sold in the village shop where I live. That has to be more environmentally sound than extracting the fat and protein from plants, and combining it with water and other additives to make an emulsion in a factory and then shipping it half way around the world to UK supermarkets. Oat milk is mostly produced in Canada I believe.

Go with whichever you prefer the taste of because diabetes wise, there is next to nothing in it, but don't let the marketing people kid you that it is healthier or more environmentally friendly than locally produced dairy.
 
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