8th Continent Original Flavor Soy Milk Review

When I go grocery shopping and reach the dairy beverage section I get a gallon of milk for other members in the family and a half gallon of soy milk for me. Generally my four-year-old son will help me drink the soy milk. It seems like we always get the same kind of milk every week but enjoy trying out different soy milks. One of the most recent ones that we tried was 8th Continent Original Flavor Soy Milk. Here is what my son and I thought of this non-dairy beverage.

To the best of my memory this was the first time that I had tried anything by the 8th Continent company. I generally do not have complaints about soy milk, but you never know what to expect from a new product so I did not have any particular expectations. I was very pleased to find out that the soy milk from 8th Continent was very good. I did not feel as though it had a cheap taste, and it was more inexpensive then the leading soy milk brands. I am always trying to find ways to cut down on our grocery bill and when I can do it without cutting out good taste it is nice. In addition to tasting good I must say that the ingredients and nutrition facts of the soy milk were very good.

In one serving size of 8th Continent Original Flavor Soy Milk there were 80 calories with 20 calories from fat. I was surprised to see this because in Silk Original Flavor Soymilk there are 100 calories with 35 calories from fat. The inexpensive soy milk offered 95 milligrams of sodium and 360 milligrams of potassium; when compared to Silk's 120 milligrams of sodium and 300 milligrams of potassium it is incredibly low in sodium. I am always impressed when I see something that has a reduction of sodium. The 8th Continent Soy Milk also offered 7 grams of total carbohydrates, 7 grams of sugars, and 8 grams of protein, but no grams for dietary fiber. I try and keep an eye out for high fiber items so I was a little disappointed by this, but considering that Silk only lists 1 gram for dietary fiber I was not too concerned; additionally Silk listed 8 grams of total carbohydrates and 7 grams of protein. While I was overall quite pleased with what I was seeing so far in the nutrition facts, the vitamins and minerals had me rethinking that.

At first glance it looked as though the vitamins and minerals found in a serving of 8th Continent Original Flavor Soy Milk were good but after comparing them to Silk I noticed some concerning things for me. Both soy milks listed vitamin A with 10%, vitamin C with 0%, Calcium with 30%, iron with 6%, and riboflavin 30%. Silk did not list phosphorus but 8th Continent listed it with 25%. Magnesium was listed as 6% for 8th Continent and 10% for Silk, vitamin D was listed as 25% for 8th Continent and 30% for Silk, and most concerning vitamin B12 was listed as 20% for 8th Continent and 50% for Silk. This was most concerning to me because vitamin B12 is very important to include in a low or no-meat diet, which mine is. I should mention that Silk listed folate, zinc, and selenium with 6%, 4%, and 8% respectively while 8th Continent did not mention these. The ingredients confirmed what I thought about this soy milk.

Since I had compared the nutrition facts of Silk and 8th Continent soy milks I thought that I might as well compare the ingredients. The 8th Continent Original Flavor Soymilk consisted of soy milk made of water, soy protein, soybean oil, and calcium phosphate, sugar, potassium citrate, natural and artificial flavors, magnesium phosphate, salt, sodium polyphosphate, dipotassium phosphate, soy lecithin, carrageenan, xanthan gum, riboflavin, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D, and vitamin B12. Silk on the other hand was made of all natural soy milk, that consisted of filtered water and whole soybeans, all natural evaporated cane juice, calcium carbonate, sea salt, natural flavors, carrageenan, vitamin A palmitate, vitamin D, riboflavin, and vitamin B12. I was disappointed to see artificial flavors in the 8th Continent soy milk. When it came to deciding if I would purchase it again I considered several things before deciding make an opinion of this soy milk.

Overall I had zero complaints about the taste of 8th Continent Original Flavor Soymilk and it was roughly 50 cents cheaper than the leading brand. For the most part I enjoyed the nutrition facts, however I would have liked to see more vitamin B12. It was the ingredients that really got to me, I just prefer to get foods that are free of artificial flavors. In general I hope to find an inexpensive soy milk that has natural flavors, but I imagine that if Silk is too expensive I will get this again. If you are looking for an inexpensive soy milk I recommend trying this one, but only if it is significantly cheaper than the major brand that offers no artificial flavors.