Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt review
Here we will give a hands-on, taste-tested review of Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt. We’ll look into the benefits, ingredients, nutrition, uses and flavour of this dairy-free yoghurt. And we’ll talk about its strengths and weaknesses.
This vegan yoghurt is widely available in supermarkets and health food stores in Australia.
For this review we have tested the ‘Hint of vanilla’ version.
Ingredients of Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt
Compared to dairy yoghurt, there are a LOT of ingredients.
The specific ingredients are:
soy yogurt (90%) - soy milk (filtered water, whole soybeans), sugar, soy protein, cocoa butter, tapioca flour, mineral (calcium phosphate), tapioca starch, sea salt, natural flavour, live vegan cultures, vitamins (vitamin D, vitamin B12)
vanilla blend (10%) - water, sugar, rice starch, natural flavour, vanilla bean, acidity regulators (citric acid, sodium citrate)
As you can see that’s a huge list of ingredients, however I wouldn’t say there is anything very concerning in there. The added sugar would be the worst of the additives.
Other additives give vitamins, minerals and protein. While the starches are likely used to add texture and stability.
In summary, it’s not a simple, authentic product like traditional yoghurt, but it doesn’t contain any serious nasties either.
Benefits of Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt
Here we’ll look at the health benefits of this yoghurt as well as looking into some key health metrics and compare them to dairy yoghurt.
Probiotics
Probiotics are live, beneficial microbes that have been proven to offer health benefits.
Vitasoy soy yoghurt includes one strain of probiotics in the form of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis (aka B. lactis). This strain promotes regular bowel movements, supports gut barrier function, enhances immune response and may reduce bloating and gastrointestinal discomfort.
In terms of the actual amount of this probiotic, there are 100 million colony forming units per 100g.
Read more about the benefits of probiotic foods.
Postbiotics
Postbiotics are essentially things probiotics produce during fermentation. These include healthy short-chain fatty acids which nourish our gut lining and may help reduce symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome.
Other health measures
One thing to be conscious of when buying soy yoghurt is that it has a different nutritional profile to dairy yoghurt.
It also worth nothing that the nutritional profile in this yoghurt is generally better than coconut yoghurt like Coyo cocunut yoghurt.
Fat: This yoghurt has 4.1% fat which would place it in the mid range for dairy yoghurt fat content.
Protein: It has fairly decent protein levels of 6%, comparable to a mid-to-high range for dairy yoghurt.
Calcium: It has 120mg of calcium per 100g which is comparable to a low-to-mid range for dairy yoghurt.
Sugars: It has 6.6g of sugar per 100g which would be very high for a dairy yoghurt.
Sodium: This yoghurt is low in sodium - as most are.
Vitamins: This yoghurt is fortified with vitamins D and B12.
Appearance
As the picture below shows, it has a brownish colour which I wasn’t expecting. It looks a bit more like ice cream than yoghurt.
Texture
The texture is quite thick from the starches and decently creamy from the fat.
Flavour
The aroma is not strong and it’s hard to pick much out. Perhaps there’s earthiness from the soy and notes of lemon if I’m really trying too hard to find something.
The taste is quite earthy with an interesting lemony tang. It’s a bit too sweet for me. The vanilla comes through fairly well and there’s a moderate sourness. The lemoniness, sweetness and the way the sugars seem to coat your teeth afterwards reminds me of Yakult.
Overall, the taste is not great, but not awful. It will definitely be strange for those not accustomed to soy products. In better news, the more you eat the less strange it seems - if that’s any consolation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Uses
If this type of yoghurt was for you, I guess it would work on its own, on cereal or in a smoothie.
Cost of Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt
A 450g tub from Coles costs $5.80 - which is much more expensive than premium yoghurts on a per gram basis.
Summary
Rating: 3 stars out of 5.
Verdict: Vitasoy Greek style soy yoghurt has a better nutrition profile than some other vegan yoghurts. The earthy taste will challenge some as will the price.
Pros
diary free (if that is important to you)
decent protein levels
fortified with calcium, vitamins and minerals
Cons
very expensive
the earthy taste will not suit everyone
higher in sugar than dairy yoghurt
a huge ingredient list (but with nothing egregious)
just the one strain of probiotics
Factors we consider in our ratings
The factors we consider when doing a review (and the weightings of each of these) may vary depending on the product we are testing, but here are the key general factors we consider when we settle on a rating for a product.
Health benefits
We find out how the product will be good for your health and outline the benefits for you in simple language. This often involves doing research so you don’t have to. We often link to scientific studies or articles summarising scientific findings so you can dig deeper if you want to.
Things detrimental to health
We want to highlight where a product might include something bad for your health - even if it might be good for you in another way. This could include such things as pointing out certain additives it contains or high sugar levels.
How its made
This will vary depending on the product, but we want to see a quality process for making it and quality ingredients. For example, we want to see a kombucha traditionally fermented with lots of different microbial strains and we want to see a yoghurt made with fresh milk and not milk powders.
Price
While we expect quality products to be more expensive, they still have to be priced within reason. On the other side of things, a product which is priced very competitively will get a ratings boost based on the value it provides.
Flavour
For some products flavour won’t be a factor (eg probiotic tablets), but for others, like yoghurt or kimchi, flavour is a key aspect because these products are made to be enjoyed as well as being healthy! We will try to be as subjective as possible and describe the flavour in detail so you can get an idea of whether you would like it or not.
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Your reviewer
This hands-on review was written by Travis, the founder of this website, long-time gut-health enthusiast, science nerd and passionate kombucha maker of over 10 years!
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