Sweeteners
Soy milk is made by blending soaked soybeans with water and straining the solids, leaving a smooth, milk-like liquid.
You can purchase both unsweetened and sweetened versions.
The unsweetened varieties generally contain only purified water and soybeans, though some brands also add salt, vitamins, and/or minerals.
The sweetened varieties contain a sweetener, usually cane sugar. They typically often include oil, salt, and vanilla to provide a flavor closer to that of cow’s milk. Some versions also contain cocoa to create a chocolate flavor.
Sweetened and some unsweetened soy milk also contains a thickener or stabilizer. These additions help the ingredients in the milk remain in an emulsion, or uniform mixture, and retain characteristics like thicker texture and mouthfeel.
Here are a few commonly used thickeners and stabilizers in soy milk (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source, 3Trusted Source):
- Locust bean gum. This thickener is obtained from the seed of the carob tree, native to the Mediterranean region.
- Gellan gum. This type is produced by fermenting a carbohydrate source using a specific strain of bacteria.
- Carrageenan. This agent is extracted from red seaweed.
Of these, carrageenan has received the most push-back from consumers. That’s because early research suggests a link between its consumption and inflammatory conditions like colitis, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), rheumatoid arthritis, and colon cancer (4Trusted Source).
However, this link is not necessarily related to carrageenan, but possibly only with a form of degraded carrageenan called poligeenan. Unlike carrageenan, poligeenan is not approved for use as a food additive (4Trusted Source).
In fact, carrageenan is generally recognized as safe by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It’s also deemed safe for the general population by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) (5Trusted Source).
Still, many brands have replaced carrageenan with locust bean or gellan gum due to the controversy surrounding its safety and poor acceptance by consumers.
