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

Depending on what is important to you when it comes to ingredients and nutrition facts will reflect which soy milk is best. Westsoy, Soy Dream, and Silk all make organic shelf-stable soy milk that has pros and cons. In the first part of this article I discuss how they differ in taste and ingredients and in Part 2 I discuss how the nutrition facts differed. In this part I will further analyze the ingredients and nutrition facts to pinpoint exactly which soy milk is best for those looking for high protein, lots of vitamins, or low sodium content.

The Silk brand of soy milk had some very strong pros to it but I did take notice of quite a few cons for it; this surprised me since it is such a popular brand. On a positive note it was the lowest of the three by 50 and 60 milligrams in sodium. It had the most vitamin D with 5% more than the other two and the most riboflavin with 5% more than Westsoy, the only other one to list it. Selenium, zinc, and folate were minerals that only Silk listed. This brand of soy milk also tied for listing the most vitamin B12 and while not the highest in potassium it was only 10 milligrams away from the highest amount and 50 milligrams above the lowest amount. A possible con that I noted was that Silk contained the highest amount of calories and calories from fat, but another soy milk had the same amount. Silk soy milk was lower in iron than the others by 4% less. It tied with another soy milk for the lowest magnesium and calcium by 5% each and vitamin A by 15%; also it tied for the most sugar. It is assumed that Silk has the lowest amount of vitamin E because it does not list it in the ingredients or nutrition facts.

The Soy Dream brand brought a number of pros and cons as well. Depending on how one looks at calories tying for the most calories and calories from fat could be a positive or negative thing. Like Silk, Soy Dream contains 100 calories with 5 calories more from fat. Undeniably Soy Dream contained the most fiber, with 2 grams as oppose to 1 gram and less than 1 gram. Also Soy Dream was two grams lower in sugars than the other two. Unfortunately for the Soy Dream soy milk it had the lowest content of potassium, by 60 and 50 milligrams less than the others, and the highest amount of sodium, with 10 and 15 milligrams more than the others. Again like Silk, this soy milk contained the lowest about of vitamin A, but tied with the other soy milk for the lowest amount of vitamin D and highest amount of iron. It also had the highest amount of calcium and had more vitamin E than Westsoy soy milk, the only other soy milk to list that vitamin. Soy Dream contained less phosphorus than Westsoy and again they were the only two to list that mineral. Only Soy Dream and Westsoy list vitamin E and so they tie for most of it, but it is assumed that Soy Dream is the lowest in riboflavin because it does not list it in its nutrition facts or ingredients.

Despite being a less-popular brand Westsoy soy milk had its share of pros as well; of course it was not without flaws. Westsoy soy milk had the highest content of potassium and it has two and a half times as much vitamin A as the other two soy milks. This soy milk is the lowest in calories and calories from fat, carbohydrates with a gram less than the others, and fiber being the soy milk that contains less than 1 gram. It tied for the least amount of calcium and vitamin D, 5% less than the most, and it tied for the most amount of sugar, 2 grams more than the least. Since Silk does not list vitamin E Westsoy is tied with Soy Dream for the most of this vitamin, but it contains 5% less of riboflavin but still more than Soy Dream because Soy Dream does not list riboflavin. Finally Westsoy ties for the most iron and the lowest magnesium.

To decide on the best I will recap some of their pros and cons. The greatest points of Westsoy was that it was the highest in potassium, vitamin A, and phosphorus; additionally if you are looking to cut back on calories it had the lowest calories and lowest calories from fat. Its greatest cons were that it did not contain the least about of sugars and offered the very least fiber. The pros of Soy Dream were that it was the highest in calcium and fiber and it was the lowest in sugars. Unfortunately it was also the lowest in potassium and highest in sodium. Silk uniquely was the highest in vitamin D and lowest in sodium as a positive, but it was the other soy milk highest in sugar and did not contain as much iron as the others. All comparable in price my ending decision led me to Soy Dream; it just had the most calcium, iron, and fiber and those are important to me. I have to admit though that Silk was an extremely close second choice. I hope that all this analyzing will serve other people as it has served me in determining the best soy milk that is shelf-stable for my family and me.