Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)(I recently checked the label in the store and it now contains canola oil as possible ingredient. Canola oil contains up to 2% erucic acid, which is a known toxin in humans and animals (check the medical literature) and cannot be used by USA FDA regulation in infant foods. If you wish to be more conservative about food safety than the USA FDA, then consider those facts.)
I used this product for many years. I favored Imagine for high quality ingredients, excellent flavor, reasonable price, and wide availability. I find milk and soy products cause digestive distress, rice beverages have no such effect, no cholesterol, very little fat, and taste great. I prefer the vanilla flavor for everyday drinking and the original (which tastes more like milk) for cooking. This Heartwise product also contains plant sterols that may decrease cholesterol levels. It also has much less sugar than the other Rice Dream products.
This product also uses safflower oil, not canola oil. Imagine now uses the cheaper canola oil in many their rice milk products. Canola oil contains erucic acid, a toxic chemical. The FDA has limited canola oil to no more than 2% erucic acid to protect our health, and do not allow it in infant formula. In addition, studies show the erucic acid it contains is toxic (see below). I have not been able to find any long term longitudinal controlled studies on humans to prove its safety as far as all the adversely affected organs. Many animal studies show heart lesions from erucic acid, found in canola oil. So this is another reason this product is Heartwise!
Good Karma Whole Grains Ricemilk is organic and also canola and sugar free. It has a thicker, richer and creamier body and flavor, less watered down. It may be too thick and rich for some,and contains much more sugar. The vanilla flavor is a delicious drink, it tastes more like fresh whole milk straight out of the cow (if you have had that) than what is sold in cartons in the US. Westsoy Rice Beverage has similar consistency to Rice Dream, and is canola free.
The same canola issue (as well as sugar) also applies to most of the non-Heartwise rice beverages and deserts.
Because there have been Internet rumors about Canola that are based on misinformation, I provide some citations of scientific papers and government publications. Studies on erucic acid in rats and piglets show heart lesions, decreased red blood cell count, and other tissue and organ damage. Erucic acid crosses the blood-brain barrier and is known to affect nerve cells. It's not safe for infants. Check out this small sample of government and peer-reviewed medical journal articles documenting my statements, available online. The claim that canola is not safe is controversial, and it is a multi-billion dollar industry. No controlled long-term longitudinal studies of human safety with respect to all these medical issues have been performed to my knowledge. If you have confidence in the US FDA safety standards after reading these references, the chocolate flavored non-Heartwise Rice Dream is a delicious drink!
United States Legislation on Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed Oil, Federal Department of Agriculture, 1985, article 184.1555, sections 3 and 4.
Growth Rate, Lipid Composition, Metabolism and Myocardial Lesions of Rats Fed Rapeseed Oils J. K. G. Kramer et al., The Journal of Nutrition, 103 (12):1696-1708, December 1973.
Dietary factors affecting the incidence of dietary fat-induced myocardial lesions. Clandinin MT, Yamashiro S., J Nutr. 1982 Apr;112(4):825-828.
Nutritional characteristics and food uses of vegetable oils, R.O. Vles and J.J. Gottenbos; In: G. Robblen, R.K. Downey and A. Ashri, Editors, Oil crops of the world, McGraw Hill, New York, USA (1989), pp. 36-86.
ERUCIC ACID IN FOOD: A Toxicological Review and Risk Assessment, TECHNICAL REPORT SERIES NO. 21, FOOD STANDARDS AUSTRALIA NEW ZEALAND, June 2003.
Uptake and metabolism of plasma-derived erucic acid by rat brain, Mikhail Y. Golovko and Eric J. Murphy, The Journal of Lipid Research, 47, 1289-1297, June 2006.
Bravo to Rice Dream for again making a product without Canola oil, with plant sterols and less sugar! Now let's look for the organic version.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Imagine Rice Dream Drink, Heartwise Vanilla, 32-Ounce Boxes (Pack of 12)
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