COCONUT KEFIR

Rhythm Health Raw Coconut & Greens Dairy Free Kefir

500ml, £4.99, ocado.com and rhythmhealth.co.uk

CLAIM: A smoothie made from coconut milk kefir and vegetables including broccoli, fennel, spinach, kale and avocado. Vegetarian, vegan, and with no added sugar, the maker says this is ‘real, live, fermented kefir containing lactic acid bacteria, including Lactobacillus acidophilus’.

VERDICT: This kefir uses coconut milk, rather than cow or other animal milk, with added live cultures which it specifies by name — L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus and L. paracasei — but not the total amount, so it’s difficult to say how beneficial this will be.

The added vegetable pulp includes some prebiotic fibre too, but not enough to count as a portion of veg. The fact that this smoothie uses coconut milk rather than dairy milk means the microorganisms will flourish slightly differently, but it’s hard to say whether one is better than the other.

This lacks the protein, bone-healthy calcium and B vitamins — good for healthy blood and the nervous system — that a cow’s milk kefir would provide.

However, this has more vitamin C as well as some fibre.