Plant-based dairy alternative products, such as nut milks (e.g., oat and almond milks), are very popular these days. Especially for those following vegan diets. This is why doctors are increasingly concerned that avoiding all real dairy foods (milk, yogurt, cheese), and only consuming plant-based alternatives is resulting in micronutrient deficiencies.
The biggest concerns are with iodine, B vitamins, calcium, and choline. Micronutrient deficiencies can have an effect on growth, thyroid, and brain development. A recent study pointed out that deficiencies can be especially harmful for children, young persons, and women of childbearing age.
One way to avoid these micronutrient deficiencies is to consume real dairy products as part of the diet. Or can consume plant-based dairy alternative products that have been fortified with these nutrients.
Excerpts from The Guardian: Swapping from dairy to plant-based milk, cheese and yoghurt ‘could lead to micronutrient deficiencies’
Switching from dairy products to plant-based alternatives could lead to deficiencies in vital micronutrients, especially among young people and women, a study has found.
Even moving partly to vegan alternatives to milk, cheese and yoghurt could lead to falls in iodine, calcium, riboflavin and vitamin B12 if the substitutes, often based on soya, almonds or oats, are not fortified, scientists said.
The greatest concerns surround iodine, a trace element used by the thyroid gland to produce hormones that regulate metabolism and support healthy growth and brain development. More than half of UK teenage girls already have inadequate iodine intake, the researchers said.
Replacing a fifth to a third of dairy intake with plant-based alternatives would lead to prevalence of iodine deficiency rising from 54% to 65% of adolescent girls and from 32% to 42% of women aged 19 to 49 years old, according to modelling based on typical market levels of fortification.
“There are known health effects of iodine deficiency and that’s why we want to raise awareness of this,” said Dr Sarah Bath, an associate professor in public health nutrition at the University of Surrey. “The population groups that seem to be at risk and have the lowest intakes were the young women and women of childbearing age, and that’s the key life stage where iodine is particularly important.”
Requiring all non-dairy alternatives to be fortified with iodine would prevent average declines, the study found. Adding iodised salt to bread helped reduce the proportion of teenage girls with inadequate iodine intake in the modelled scenarios. The study is published in he Lancet Planetary Health.