Review of 'Vitasoy' Mint Chocolate

Vitasoy -- Mint Chocolate (vegan)
Overall Rating: 4/5
Summary: okay, I'm not a mint fan, but I can appreciate why this would be good for mint lovers. It's a pretty good balance of both mint and chocolate. I normally really don't care for mint-flavoured foods and beverages, but...okay, I'll admit this one is a hit. As a non-mint lover, though, I personally wouldn't buy it again, especially since it's a whopping 160 calories per cup. Also, carrageenan has been linked to gastrointestinal health issues and colon cancer in some studies (read more about it here).

Where to buy: Fortinos



Ingredients: filtered water, organic dried sugar cane juice, organic whole soybeans, organic cocoa (processed with alkali), organic sunflower oil, natural flavors, carrageenan, salt.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 250ml
Calories: 160
Fat: 4g
     Saturated: .5g
     Trans: 0g
     Polyunsaturated: 2.5g
          Omega-6: 2g
          Omega-3: .3g
     Monounsaturated: .9g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 125mg
Potassium: 320mg
Carbohydrate: 27g
     Fiber: 1g
     Sugars: 24g
Protein: 5g
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 4%

So yes, the ingredients are organic and swell. But, the second ingredient is sugar cane juice, which translates into 24g of sugar for a cup! That's just too much for me. Additionally, the 160 calories is too high for me, especially since I'm not big on the mint flavour. The only plus is the low saturated fat and healthy poly- and mono-unsaturated fats...also the 5g of protein isn't too bad.

Check out this Mint Chocolate Pudding recipe from Vitasoy.

Other soymilk flavours (all vegan):

• Original
• Vanilla
• Lite Plus Original
• Lite Plus Vanilla
• Lite Chocolate
• Holly Nog (reviewed here)
• Unsweetened (reviewed here)

Brand:

• It's difficult to say whether or not Vitasoy is non-GMO because its www.vitasoy.com.au website cites its products as non-GM BUT the Cornucopia Institute ranks it very low (a 1 out of 5) on the non-GMO scale (read here). Update: rating has gone up to 3/5, so it's likely that Vitasoy does use non-GMO soybeans.
• "Vitasoy-USA readily shared their sourcing information, but they do not buy directly from family farmers. Their supplier would not disclose the sourcing of their organic soybeans, but our research indicates that their supplier works directly with North-American organic farmers." (cited from cornucopia.org)