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FF Milk vs 1% or 2% milk fat - thoughts?

Old 01-31-2011, 04:43 AM
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Default FF Milk vs 1% or 2% milk fat - thoughts?

I have heard a lot of debate about switching to Fat-Free milk from those giving me some dieting advice. I've drank 2% (or sometimes 1% milk) for years -- not just for the taste, but because of what I felt are the advantages of milk that contains milk-fats...

Mostly, I know that Vitamins A and D are fat-soluble (not to mention E and K), and therefore whatever is in the fat-free milk (whether "fortified" or not) can't be absorbed without the milk fat (though, to be fair, I do wonder if I could absorb them if something else I ate in the meal contained fat. I'm not a nutritionist Maybe you just need to eat enough fat elsewhere and it doesn't matter if it's not right in the milk?). Liquid foods necessarily make absorption easier, of course.

The nutritional labels on most FF milk reads that they contain just about the same amount of nutrients as 1% or 2% milk (i.e., both may read that they contain 10% Vitamin A, for example...) Of course the nutrients may be PRESENT in the milk, but are they being absorbed? The AHA recommendations say that 1% milk is a good compromise as lower-fat milks tend to be slightly more "nutrient dense" (since they're taking the place of some sat. fats, I would imagine) but there's little absorption data. I have access to scientific journals, but I don't really feel like slogging through the source data papers unless I have to (I get that enough with work!!)

I suppose the debate rages on. Every time I read one opinion, I read a conflicting one that says the exact opposite. How much of a difference do you think it makes? Is the "absorption" data bunk entirely? Just wondering if anyone has any hard facts on it, since so many of the websites I read do not really cite their sources very well.

Thanks!

~Terri
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Old 01-31-2011, 06:12 AM
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I drink ordinary 1.5% milk (milk here comes in 3 varieties, whole milk of 3.5%, low fat of 1.5% and skimmed of around 0.2%) IMO the middle way is best. Sometimes I buy organic whole milk coz organic only comes in the whole variety.

And we definitely need some fat in our diet, even 2% milk has only some 4-5g of fat in a cup and thats not that much, compared to some 8g in whole fat milk. I don't think that people in the developed world need to worry much about vitamin intake, since our diet is varied and we get lots of vitamins from different sources. But that's just my opinion, you might not agree with me of course.
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Old 01-31-2011, 06:22 AM
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We drink skim in our house, also call "fat free". We have a host of milk allergy/intolerance issues in this house, so skim is our best option. For the most part I drink almond milk, which only has 60 calories/cup, although I suppose once I reach goal I may go back to skim or 1%. The last time I had blood work done I was not low on any of the vitamins added to milk, but I also take a multivitamin after dinner and I frequently use a protein supplement that has added vitamins.
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Old 01-31-2011, 07:30 AM
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Thanks Muna and Almeeker

I also started taking a multivitamin, so I'm not so concerned about my vitamin intake persay. I have just become interested in what nutrition I'm getting from my food (and what I'm not) -- and how that nutrition is best obtained! I'm sure that my old eating habits had me entirely bereft of nutrition (lots of beige food, no colors in sight!) and I guess I tend to get really investigational
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Old 01-31-2011, 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted by taubele
Mostly, I know that Vitamins A and D are fat-soluble (not to mention E and K), and therefore whatever is in the fat-free milk (whether "fortified" or not) can't be absorbed without the milk fat (though, to be fair, I do wonder if I could absorb them if something else I ate in the meal contained fat. I'm not a nutritionist Maybe you just need to eat enough fat elsewhere and it doesn't matter if it's not right in the milk?). Liquid foods necessarily make absorption easier, of course.
You are right. The fat can come from anywhere in your diet, it doesn't have to be in the milk to help with the vitamin absorption. Once everything is mixed in your stomach (or your intestines), it doesn't matter where the fat has come from. It just needs to be there to help the fat-soluble stuff get across the border of your intestines which is water-based. Bile from your gall bladder also helps with this, but you don't have to do anything to make that happen (assuming you have a gall bladder!).
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Old 02-04-2011, 04:26 AM
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We normally drink 1% in our home and sometimes 2% [corner store doesn't sell 1%]. I don't mind drinking skim milk but my husband won't touch what he calls "blue water" and I don't want to buy two separate kinds. I also prefer making a lowfat "alfredo-type" sauce recipe I have with 1% rather than skim - it ends up thicker and less watery.
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Old 02-10-2011, 04:38 AM
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I took a Survey of Animal Industry class last semester and if it helps at all when we went through the Dairy portion of it nutritional value as far as vitamins and nutrients were the same between whole, 2%, 1% and skim milk, it was just the fat that was different so really it's a taste preference thing. I drink skim milk because I don't like the thickness of the others, my husband likes 2%.
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