🌱 Rice milk

Rice milk is a plant drink made from rice and water. It is most often made from brown rice. It tastes slightly sweet. Shop-bought drinks often have added sugar or sweeteners, and sometimes vanilla.

Rice milk is about 89% water and about 9% carbohydrates, with about 1% fat and almost no protein. Without fortification it has little calcium and few vitamins. That is why calcium is often added to shop-bought drinks. It has no cholesterol and no lactose. Rice milk suits people with lactose intolerance and with allergies to milk, soy or nuts.

Rice milk vs oat, soy or almond milk? All are plant drinks made from one ingredient and water, but rice milk is the thinnest and sweetest of the group: about 89% water, 9% carbohydrates and almost no protein. Cow’s milk, by contrast, carries plenty of protein, especially casein. Rice milk makes up for it with no lactose, no cholesterol and no milk, soy or nuts. Unfortified, it has little calcium, which is why makers often add it.

On the shelf it is labelled “rice drink” or “rice milk” among the plant-based drinks in a supermarket, health-food shop or organic store. Read the ingredients: shop-bought versions often contain sugar or sweeteners, and sometimes vanilla. A line about added calcium means the drink has been fortified. The nutrition table shows how little protein it has. The arsenic advice for children under 5 matters for families.

There is an important caution for children. Rice can contain arsenic. So the NHS advises that children under 5 should not have rice drinks instead of breast milk, formula or cow's milk.