Soy Or Milk: The Healthier Choice?

Proteins are an essential part of our daily meals. We need proteins to repair our worn-out muscles and also to build new muscles. Both soy and milk products are great sources of proteins and plays an important role in our diet. Milk is known to have several health benefits. Soy is also very healthy because it is one of the best sources of vegan proteins.

So, soy or milk which is the healthier choice? This is definitely a tough call. Many people believe the battle of milk and soy can be won hands down by milk because it is a natural product that has been consumed from ancient times. Others argue in favour of soy because it gives us complete nutrition.

Lets check out some health benefits of both these foods to decide whether soy or milk is the best source of proteins.

Soy Or Milk: Which Is Healthier?

Milk is an animal product because it usually comes from a cow or buffalo. So, milk may be vegetarian but not vegan. Vegan is a kind of diet that does not include anything that comes from animals. Soy is vegan because it is made from soy beans.

One of the main health benefits of milk is that it has loads of natural calcium. The human body needs calcium for healthy bones and strong teeth. Especially for women naturally occurring calcium is very essential. Soy products like soy milk have to be fortified with calcium; they don't have natural calcium.

For many people, the enzymes that is needed to digest lactose (sugar present in milk) is absent or not produced sufficiently. This is called lactose intolerance. A person who is lactose intolerant cannot digest milk or dairy products. Soy is their only option to meet the proteins requirement.

Milk can be pasteurized but it can never be hundred per cent safe. This is because it is an animal product. If the cow has any ailments, it might be transferred through the milk. Soy is relatively safer in that way.

Both soy and milk have more or less the same amount of proteins. Moreover, low-fat milk contains the same amount of fats as soy. So basically, skimmed milk and soy are more or less similar as far as calorie content is concerned.

A scientific research suggested that regular intake of soy may be associated with low sperm count. However, there isn't sufficient evidence to say so as of now.

Soy has many other health benefits apart from giving you proteins. It helps control female hormones and particularly helpful for menopausal women. Moreover, it also fights against certain types of cancer.

Soy is healthy and a complete food unlike milk. So we can conclude that given the choice between soy or milk, you should prefer choosing soy.