Milk – LactoFree v Soya

Following the recent TV promotion of LactoFree, I became intrigued – firstly, how can the milk be cows milk and be lactose free? And secondly, will my body react to it as it usually does to cows milk? Armed with plenty of curiosity, I have carried out a mini investigation comparing LactoFree and soya milk – a fussy foodie favourite!

How can the milk be cows milk and be lactose free….?

To answer that question, my first port of call was the LactoFree website, www.lactofree.co.uk. This states the milk becomes lactose free by filtering out the lactose then applying a lactase enzyme.  After this process, tests detect a lactose content of 0.03%, which as per UK guidelines is classed as lactose free.

My thoughts then turned to the actual product:

• how does the nutritional value of LactoFree compare to that of soya milk?
• how does LactoFree taste and how will my body react?

For my investigation, I chose to compare the following three products:

• Alpro Unsweetened Soya Milk – branded variety
• Sainsbury’s Unsweetened Soya Milk – my chosen variety of soya milk, based on taste & price
• LactoFree Semi Skimmed – I felt this would be the more popular LactoFree choice

Lactose Free Milk Options

LactoFree – Nutrition: The Facts

Nutritional Value per 100ml	Alpro Unsweetened Soya	Sainsburys Basics Unsweetened Soya	Lactofree Long Life Semi-Skimmed
Energy	134 kJ	155 kJ	269 kJ
Protein	3.7g	3.3g	3.4g
Carbohydrate	0.1g	2.1g	2.6g
of which sugars	0.1g	1.0g	2.6g
of which lactose	Nil	Nil	Nil
Fat	2.2g	1.7g	1.7g
of which saturates	0.4g	0.3g	1.1g
of which monounsaturates	0.5g	0.4g	0.5g
of which polyunsaturates	1.3g	1.0g	Trace
Fibre	0.6g	0.2g	Nil
Sodium	0.01g		0.04g
equivalent as salt	0.01g	< 0.1g	0.11g

As you can see from the table, there are swings and roundabouts between the nutritional values of each product.  Choosing the right product for you would be down to deciding which of the nutritional values are most important to you. After carrying out this comparison, I personally feel very reassured by my preference for Sainsburys Unsweetened Soya Milk.

LactoFree – The Taste & Tolerance Test

I felt slightly nervous about this section of my investigation as I was really unsure about how my body would react.  It took me a while to pluck up the courage but for the sake of satisfying my curiosity I took the plunge and drank a glass of LactoFree….!

Taste…the results of the taste test are shown below:

Testers	Verdict
Claire	Awful and left a sour after taste
Michelle	Like cows milk just slightly creamier
Margaret	Tastes like sterilized milk

Tolerance…I can tell within 15 minutes if I have eaten foods containing dairy, and so after drinking a glass of LactoFree I waited very gingerly to see what would happen.  To my relief, I was absolutely fine! Aside from a funny taste in my throat and mouth, I suffered no reaction at all to drinking LactoFree, I was amazed.

I haven’t had cows milk for nearly 7 years now and I can definitely say I have lost the taste for it so I will happily stick to soya.  However, the results of my mini investigation show that if you are used to the taste of cows milk but are looking to avoid lactose, then LactoFree could be a winner and so is definitely worth a try!

Note – there are alternative brands of soya available, the 2 chosen for this purpose are ones I am familiar with.  There are also lactose free alternatives to soya & LactoFree, including rice milk and oat milk.