Wait, people on TikTok are saying oat milk is actually bad for you but is it really?

This is not the news I need right now

2 years ago

Love it or hate it, oat milk has been adopted by students nationwide as their coffee accompaniment of choice. It’s often chosen as a plant-friendly alternative and is quickly dominating the vegan market. That’s because it’s good for the environment, it pisses off the agric boys, and most importantly, it tastes pretty damn good. So good in fact, that big coffee chains Costa and Starbucks have specially crafted a range of oat milk coffees on their menus to save you the mouthful of trying to order an extra-hot flat white with oat milk and a caramel shot ever again.

But now oat milk is the next trending item to have been put through the wringer. A woman on TikTok called Ashley, who says on her website that she is a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, has made a video that’s since got over four million views, calling out all fellow oat latte fans and highlighting the problematic side effects of drinking the beverage.

Ashley said: “I love an oat milk latte as much as the next millennial but there is a big reason why it is not a part of my daily routine.”

She explains that the milk alternative is often labeled as having no added sugar, a misconception people often fall for as technically no sugar is actually added. Instead, an enzyme added in the manufacturing process breaks down the starch in oats into sugar, causing blood sugar to spike and crash. This can lead to all the horrible symptoms such as fatigue, brain fog, anxiety and cravings – a “terrible way to start your day” according to Ashley.

@ashleysauvehealth

Don’t shoot the messenger 😅 #oatmilk #gutheealth #guttok #fyp

♬ You – Petit Biscuit

While this news was received with praise by many, a significant amount of viewers, myself included, have instead chosen to ignore this information. One commenter on TikTok even said: “Girl my world is literally crashing around me, pls do not take my silly little oat latte from me”. Girl, I’m with you.

We asked Lauren Helen Marsh, a Nutritional Therapist and Health Coach at Holistic Wellness Platform Able, about whether drinking oat milk is actually bad for you, she said: “Not every brand has additives and maltose – it’s important to look at the individual brands of oat milk you buy. And even if your oat milk does contain maltose, it’s not necessarily bad. It depends on many other factors, including what else you are consuming with the oat milk.

“As long as consumed in moderation, the sugar content shouldn’t cause harm but this varies from person to person. Be careful following nutritional TikTok advice – always seek professional opinion who can give you personalised advice.”

Whether drinking oat milk will actually have an adverse effect on you is up for debate and it will seemingly depend on what brand you buy and what ingredients are added, so don’t shoot the messenger. And while the potential negatives of drinking oat milk are highlighted above, there are plenty of beneficial ingredients too, which are enough to keep my relationship with my oat milk latte amicable.

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