Watering down milk.....

greenbee

McKneff wrote: »

As a sufferer of Osteoporosis i am reliably told by my doctor that the calcium content in fully skimmed milk is actually higher than in full fat milk.
have a look here.

http://www.nnuh.nhs.uk/docs%5Cleaflets%5C197.pdf

not sure if the link works but the calcium levels in milk (200mll) are

Skimmed 244
Semi skimmed 240
Full fat 236

Surprising eh, i know i was when i was told.

More room for calcium if you take out the fat

But as thriftlady says, full fat millk is a low-fat food.

There are other factors to consider in building/maintaing bone density, including exercise and avoiding fizzy drinks which leach the calcium from your bones.

Swan_2

thriftlady wrote: »

But isn't calcium fat soluble? I'm sure I read somewhere that calcium is absorbed more readily from whole milk. Also the vitamins in milk are fat soluble.

you need vitamin D for optimum calcium uptake, & it's contained in the fat (the vitamin D that is)
so although there's more calcium by volume in skimmed, afaik your body won't be able to take advantage of it as readily

at one time there was a company selling skimmed milk with added vitamin D with a marketing campaign aimed specifically at women

Penelope_Penguin

thriftlady wrote: »

I agree wholeheartedly :T If you are an adult who only takes milk in hot drinks then fair enough water it down (if you must) but when milk is being taken as a food then don't mess with it. I don't even like it to have the fat removed.

angeltreats wrote: »

The only time I ever do it is in our local restaurant, if we go for a coffee they only do full fat milk and I hate the taste of it so I get them to water it down for me. At home I just buy skimmed for me and semi-skimmed for DH.

This is what I don;t get - if you're adding watered down milk to hot drink, why not just use less milk :huh: That way the liquid in the drink will do the watering down for you

thriftlady wrote: »

But isn't calcium fat soluble? I'm sure I read somewhere that calcium is absorbed more readily from whole milk. Also the vitamins in milk are fat soluble.

Calcium salts aren't generally fat soluble, no

Penny. x

angeltreats

PP - I do it to cool the coffee down! Otherwise I'd be waiting ages before I could drink it. I can quite happily drink black coffee but I'm impatient!

thriftlady_2

Swan wrote: »

you need vitamin D for optimum calcium uptake, & it's contained in the fat (the vitamin D that is)
so although there's more calcium by volume in skimmed, afaik your body won't be able to take advantage of it as readily

That's what it was, I knew I'd read something along those lines. Thanks Swan

My point is that a food in as whole a state as possible is always going to be superior to food that's been messed about with.

patchwork_cat

It is actually believed that it is the caffeine that affects the calcium absorption and not the phosphorous. Also the fact that if you are drinking fizzy pop you may not be drinking milk! Low fat milk does contain more calcium than whole milk and whilst you do need fat to absorb vitamin D ( only vit b and c are water soluble) the fat does not need to be consumed at teh same time as the milk. Milk is not fortified with Vit D in this country (although there is a campaign in Scotland)

BitterAndTwisted

I'm with Pete*G, I just can't see the point in either watering down milk or choosing to severely limit ones intake for reasons of economy. I think whatever the current price it's incredibly good value at around 25 to 30 a pint, and so versatile as well. For those on a really tight budget I don't see anything wrong with using dried mild powder for cooking but personally that's pretty much all I'd do with it.

kitschkitty

We have semi skimmed milk purely for the fact we prefer the taste.

In a balanced diet surely milk is only one of many sources of calcium anyway.

That said I've never had any reason to water down milk.

ceridwen

thriftlady wrote: »

But isn't calcium fat soluble? I'm sure I read somewhere that calcium is absorbed more readily from whole milk. Also the vitamins in milk are fat soluble.

Fat reduced milk is too processed for my liking. I like my food as unmucked-about-with as possible. The fat content in whole milk is only 3.6%. Drinking fat reduced milk will only make a signicant dent in your calorie intake if you drink large quantities.

Totally agree with having food as unmucked about with as possible:D

I just personally water down my (full-fat) milk 2:1 with water - because I prefer the taste of lower-fat milk - but I dont want to buy milk that way in the first place (ie buying skimmed or semi-skimmed) - because that would be a bit more processing by the food manufacturer (and I object to paying the same price for skimmed milk as full-fat - even though the manufacturer presumably uses the fat elsewhere - and then keeps the profit from that for themselves...).

You might know actually - do you know what happens to this fat that gets skimmed off full-fat milk by the manufacturers? (I am thinking this might be an ingredient in those "buttery" spreads perhaps??)

Penelope_Penguin

ceridwen wrote: »

(and I object to paying the same price for skimmed milk as full-fat - even though the manufacturer presumably uses the fat elsewhere - and then keeps the profit from that for themselves...).

In fact, it costs more to make skimmed milk, so by purchasing whole milk, at the same price as skimmed, you're paying over the odds, and subsidising the purchasers of skimmed milk