Almond milk is a healthy and nutritious alternative to soy milk or cow's milk. Almond milk is dairy free, cholesterol free, and contains high levels of protein, calcium, and essential vitamins and minerals. The praises of almond milk are endless, however there are a few dangers lurking in the carton, including high amounts of sugar and the status as a goitrogenic food, according to livestrong.com.
It is true that it contains vitamins, calcium and nutritive substances, not to mention about the fact that it is cholesterol free and it helps you lose weight. The first victims are those with various allergies to tree nuts. There are a lot of people suffering from such conditions, although the almonds are not among the most popular allergic nuts. With all these, an allergic reaction may become very dangerous for an individual, resulting in facial swelling, diarrhea or nausea, according to livestrong.com.
Thyroid
Almond nuts are goitrogenic food, means they contain chemicals that can harm thyroid gland. Almonds can cause the thyroid to expand when consumed on a large level, and so cause goiters to form because one of the prevalent chemicals found in goitrogens blocks the intake of iodine. Almond milk contains levels of goitrogenic toxins produced from almonds and so people who are at risk of low thyroid function should avoid consuming this.
Abdominal Pain
Abdominal pain may occur when the lining of your stomach becomes irritated from lactose found in cow's milk. The breaking down of lactose may cause stomach irritation.
Nausea
Nausea can occur as your stomach becomes irritate from the milk lactose, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases reports. You may experience vomiting along with the nausea.
For Babies
It is trend in people to replace cow's milk with soy milk in baby's bottle. However, the replacement with almond milk is equally dangerous as it is not an adequate source of nutrition for a baby. The baby will suffer from malnutrition and likely develop health complications for life if either breast milk or formula is replaced with almond milk.
Sweetness
Almond milk has higher percentage of sugar as compared to cow's milk which is one of the most obvious disadvantages of it. Naturally, almond milk does not contain sugar but most manufacturers add sugar to it during processing to improve the taste. Most commercial almond milks contain about 20 grams of sugar per serving.
Abdominal Bloating
Abdominal bloating relates to the increased gas in your stomach, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases states. Again, your stomach will become larger in size with the bloating. This occurs as a side effect of the cow's milk ingredient lactose.
Diarrhea
Diarrhea occurs when your intestines cramp and the solids are pushed out of your rectum quickly. The lactose an ingredient in cow's milk causes much of this side effect. This side effect will stop when you stop drinking it. You still may experience diarrhea for a couple of days as the side effect lessens.
Commercially produced almond milk contains more sugar than cow's milk, which is the most obvious disadvantage.
