Three Shelf-Stable Soy Milks Compared: Soy Dream, Westsoy, and Silk - Part 2: Nutrition

In Part 1 of this article I discussed how the tastes and ingredients were similar and different among Westsoy, Soy Dream, and Silk organic shelf-stable soy milk. This part of the article discusses the similarities that I came across when closely analyzing each of these brand's organic shelf-stable soy milk's nutrition. In the nutrition facts I found mostly differences between the three but there were some nutrition facts among the three that were identical also.

To my surprise there was only a single listing, except for the ones that were at 0, which all three soy milks had in common; this was that they all offered 7 grams of protein. Both Soy Dream and Silk soy milks offer 100 calories with 35 calories from fat and 8 grams of carbohydrates. Silk soy milk and Westsoy soy milk list 6 grams of sugars. In the minerals and vitamins section identical listings of Soy Dream and Silk soy milks were 10% for vitamin A and 50% for vitamin B12. Identical listings for Soy Dream and Westsoy were iron with 10% and vitamins D and E with 25% each. Silk and Westsoy had identical listings for calcium with 30 % and magnesium with 10%. Obviously there were a number of differences that these soy milks had in nutrition facts as well.

In the nutrition department one of the first differences that I noticed was the Westsoy had 10 calories less with 5 calories from fat less than both the Silk and Soy Dream soy milks. The sodium differed in all three, Silk with 120 milligrams, Westsoy with 5 milligrams more at 125 milligrams, and Soy Dream at 135 milligrams. Equally the potassium differed with 250 milligrams in Soy Dream, 300 milligrams in Silk, and 310 milligrams in Westsoy. Westsoy only had 7 grams of carbohydrates and Soy Dream only had 4 grams of sugars. The fiber content ranged from 2 grams in Soy Dream, 1 gram in Silk, and less than 1 gram in Westsoy. The differences found between the three soy milks in the minerals and vitamins sections was partly due to the fact that the three of them did not list all of the same vitamins and minerals.

Westsoy did not list thiamin, folic acid, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium, copper, and folate; Silk did not list phosphorus, vitamin E, thiamin, folic acid, vitamin B6, and copper, while Soy Dream did not list riboflavin, zinc, selenium, folate. There was 15% more vitamin A in Westsoy soy milk than the other two and it contained 25% of riboflavin compared to Silk's 30% and 25% of phosphorus compared to Soy Dream's 15%. Silk offered only 6% for iron, but 30% for vitamin D and Soy Dream gave 15% for magnesium. Thiamin, folic acid, copper, and vitamin B6 were only listed for Soy Dream and listed 15% for copper and 10% for the others. Silk was the only one to list the minerals folate with 6%, selenium with 8% and zinc with 4%. I definitely found more differences in the nutrition facts then I had in the ingredients.

From the similarities and differences that I found in the nutrition facts and ingredients I discovered some things about each soy milk. This ultimately led me to decide which one I liked best overall. In Part 3 of this article I look closely at each soy milk to see which one offers the best nutrition and ingredients.