A Comparison of the Effects of Dairy Products with their Plant-based Alternatives on Metabolic Responses in Healthy Young Canadian Adults: a randomized cross-over study.

Plant-based food demand is rapidly increasing. However, the metabolic responses of plant proteins within their commercially available form remains unclear. Two randomized crossover experiments compared plant-based alternatives to dairy on postprandial glycemia, metabolic hormones, and appetite before and after a fixed size (12 kcal/kg body weight) pasta meal in sixteen healthy young adults (eight males and eight females). In experiment one, participants (22.8±2.3y) consumed one-serving of Greek yogurt (175g), cheddar cheese (30g), plant-based cheese (30g), or plant-based yogurt (175g). In experiment two, participants (22.3±2.4y) consumed one-serving (250 mL) of cow's milk, vanilla soy beverage or vanilla almond beverage, and (30 g) of cheddar cheese or plant-based cheese. Blood glucose, insulin, and appetite were measured at baseline, post-treatment, and following a fixed-size pasta meal (post-meal) within 15-30 min. In experiment two, C-peptide, GLP-1, and ghrelin were measured. Greek yogurt and cheddar cheese lowered post-meal blood glucose more than their plant-based alternatives (p <0.01) and post-treatment blood glucose was higher following almond beverage than cheddar cheese and plant-based cheese (p <0.01). In experiment 1, post-treatment insulin was higher after Greek yogurt than cheddar cheese and plant-based cheese and all treatments post-meal (p <0.02). Post-meal appetite was lower after plant-based yogurt than cheddar cheese and plant-based cheese (p <0.01). In experiment 2, post-treatment insulin was higher after almond beverage compared to all treatments (p <0.01) and post-meal GLP-1 was higher after milk than almond beverage (p =0.03). We conclude that the physiological functionality of plant-based alternatives as measured by blood glucose, insulin, C-peptide, and GLP-1 did not replicate the metabolic functions of dairy products.