On April 5, Twitter user Katherine Champagne denounced Oatly’s oat milk in a tweet, alongside a screengrab and link to an article published in August 2020. “I’m still in awe that Oatly created super sugar grain juice, cut it with canola oil, and then successfully used (amazing) marketing to convince everyone that no, this is Good,” she tweeted.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb The article she linked to was a blog post titled: “Oatly: The New Coke,” by Nat Eliason, a writer who argues the company’s oat milk has a significant and unhealthy amount of sugar in it, insisting it’s just as bad, or worse for your health than Coca-Cola. He even referred to Oatly as “Coke for the 2020s.” “Oatly has employed some clever marketing to hide the fact that you’re spiking your blood sugar every time you add it to your coffee. And considering the extensive health concerns associated with adding unnecessary sugar to your diet, it’s hard to argue their main ingredient is healthy or made for humans,” Eliason wrote in his blog post, noting the product also contains canola oil. Eliason said the oat milk naturally has “quite a bit” of a certain sugar known as maltose, which has a high glycemic index. According to Mayo Clinic, the glycemic index is “a system of assigning a number to carbohydrate-containing foods according to how much each food increases blood sugar.” Two days after Champagne’s viral tweet, Eliason responded on Twitter, saying: “Well this blew up! The crazy thing is that the sugar isn’t even what makes @oatly so bad. It’s the industrially processed seed oil. But I think we’re still 5-10 years out from most people realizing how much they’re poisoning themselves.” Earlier in 2020, Oatly responded to another critic, Jeff Nobbs, who also concluded in a blog post that the company’s oat milk has the “same blood sugar impact as Coke.” According to Nobbs, Oatly sent him a statement explaining that they “use natural enzymes to liquefy our oats, as this process enables us to make a super creamy oatmilk that retains much of the goodness from the oats, like carbs, protein, unsaturated fat and soluble fiber (beta glucan).” “As part of this process, the enzymes convert some of the starch in the oats into sugar, similar to how the human body converts starch to sugar during digestion. Since these sugars are a result of our production process, the FDA considers them to be added, which is why they’re labeled as ‘added’ sugars on our nutrition panels,” Oatly’s statement continued. “Sugar is found in lots of foods, including cow’s milk. Our non-flavored oat milks contain 7 grams of sugar per 8 oz. serving, which is less than the amount of sugar in cow’s milk.” Oatly also explained that they chose rapeseed/canola oil for their products because of its “great nutritional profile—low in saturated fats, rich in unsaturated fats, and higher in omega-3 fatty acids than most other oils.” And for more up-to-date health news, sign up for our daily newsletter. Anna Sweeney, a registered dietician, recently told Insider that the high sugar complaints about oat milk are “ridiculous.” “I think we’re focusing on the wrong things. There’s no reason to be scared of oat anything,” she said. She said that this new hesitancy towards oat milk stems from a “diet culture” that makes people fear food. “I don’t think we need to be focusing on the glycemic index of anything, assuming people have access to a variety of foods, and aren’t just drinking soda,” Sweeney added. Additionally, one Twitter user tweeted in support of Oatly and the sugar in its oat milk. “If you like sugar in your coffee, a tablespoon in a 12 oz. cup sounds like a pretty normal amount,” Allison Geroi tweeted. In a follow-up message, she added: “Everyone needs carbs and fat, eating sugar is fine, don’t base your idea of health on restrictions from the 90s.” According to Healthline, “Oat milk is an excellent source of many vitamins and minerals, as well as fiber.” They note that one cup of unsweetened, fortified oat milk by Oatly contains about 120 calories, three grams of protein, five grams of fat, 16 grams of carbs, and two grams of dietary fiber. The vegan-friendly milk also contains vitamins A, B12, D, riboflavin, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and iron. And for more health news, check out This Is the One Vitamin You Should Never Take, Doctors Say.
