Soy drinks and public servants

Soy drinks are more popular with Australians over 14 years than energy drinks, sports drinks, iced teas or breakfast drinks is a surprising new finding from Roy Morgan Research.

Even though it coagulates with coffee and has been described as an “obscenity” by author Dean Koontz, soy milk does have its supporters. In the 12 months to March 2016, 5.7% of Australians 14+ (or just over 1.1 million people) reported consuming at least one soy drink in any given seven-day period, a smidgeon ahead of those who consumed energy drinks (5.6%), sports drinks (5.6%), iced tea (4.7%) and breakfast drinks (4.7%).

And whereas consumption of energy and sports drinks has slipped since 2012, the proportion of Australians drinking soy beverages is up over the same period. Admittedly, the increase has been fractional (from 5.3%), but even so, this does represent an extra 115,000 people drinking soy milk at least once per week.

Is it something to do with the public service?

ACT residents lead the country for soy drink consumption, with 9.3% drinking it in an average seven days; ahead of Melburnians (8.3%) and Sydneysiders (6.0%). Lagging behind the other capital cities is Hobart, where only 3.8% of residents drink soy beverages. Overall, capital-city dwellers (6.3%) are more likely than country residents (4.6%) to opt for soy drinks.

Not surprisingly, consumption is well above average among people who ‘avoid dairy foods wherever possible’ (16.4%) as well as those for who say ‘milk/dairy products do not agree with me’ (15.4%). It is also elevated (13.5%) among people who report that ‘the food I eat is all, or almost all, vegetarian.’

However, Roy Morgan’s figures show that dairy and soy milk consumption are not as mutually exclusive as one might think. Almost one-third (31.3%) of Australians who consume soy drinks in an average seven days also drink regular fresh white milk in that time.

Even among soy drinkers who have issues with dairy, there is a surprising rate of dairy-milk consumption. Some 13.4% of soy drinkers who ‘avoid dairy foods wherever possible’, and 15.8% of those who say that ‘milk/dairy products don’t agree’ with them drink regular milk as well as soy.