Soymilk as a sustainable nutritional alternative to cow’s milk in South Ethiopia

Soymilk is a plant-based milk alternative protein beverage made from soybean that substitutes for cow milk, celebrated for its nutritional advantages and growing worldwide popularity. However, the soymilk has not been used to address protein-energy deficiency and malnutrition problems in lactating mothers and children in South Ethiopia. Thus, this study focused on exploring the potential of soymilk as a valuable alternative to cow’s milk. Soybean seeds previously produced by ARIT-FID project at Arba Minch University were used to prepare soymilk at laboratory scale. Proximate, mineral, phytochemical composition and sensory attributes of the prepared soymilk were examined and compared with cow milk obtained in Arba Minch town. The proximate analysis revealed a significantly higher (p < 0.05) percentage composition of crude fat (3.89%), carbohydrate (11.8%), energy (76.4 kcal), and total soluble solutes (13.3 °Bx), while a significantly lower crude fiber, Mg, Fe and phytochemical compositions in the cow’s milk than in soymilk. On the other hand, no significant difference was observed between soymilk and cow’s milk in terms of the percentage composition of crude protein, pH, titratable acidity, Fe, and Zn (p > 0.05), which are nutritionally vital components. Briefly, soymilk contains equivocal or better protein, microelements, phytochemicals and sensory profiles compared to cow’s milk. Therefore, soymilk can substitute cow’s milk, where nutritional foods are hardly obtained particularly for lactating mothers and children in developing countries like South Ethiopia.