Low-fat milk is generally considered the healthier alternative to whole milk with natural fat content. This is mainly based on the reduction of saturated fat in the diet, but there are other important factors to consider. So which milk is healthier for humans?
Milk is the main source of nutrition for newborn mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Milk contains a lot of protein, calcium, other minerals and vitamins that are crucial for healthy body development.
The process of reducing the fat in milk involves separating the fat from the rest of the milk. When the fat is removed, fat-soluble vitamins are also removed from the milk. To compensate for the loss of fat-soluble vitamins A and D, these are artificially added to the fat-reduced end product.
In general, it is true that a diet with less saturated fatty acids reduces the risk of heart disease. However, according to experts, there are doubts about the production process of low-fat milk, the consumption of which, unlike whole milk, can have a negative impact on health.
The biggest disadvantage of whole milk is its high content of saturated fatty acids. One glass of milk already contains 5 grams of saturated fatty acids, which corresponds to a quarter of the daily recommended amount. Whole milk also contains about 25 milligrams of cholesterol per glass. Daily intake of too much fat and cholesterol significantly increases the risk of heart disease or stroke. For older people or people with a family history of heart disease, it is usually recommended to drink reduced-fat milk.
Unfortunately, in the production of low-fat milk, dry milk is added by default to improve the protein content of the final product. In turn, in the process of making the dry milk, the nutrients in the milk are damaged as the milk is forced through small holes under high pressure at high temperatures. This oxidises the cholesterol in the milk, which actually increases the risk of heart disease. Even though the amount of oxidised cholesterol in low-fat milk is low, it makes little sense to reduce the risk factors of heart disease, and then subsequently add new risk factors of these same diseases.
Another problem with low-fat milk is vitamin A. As a fat-soluble vitamin, part of the vitamin A content is lost. However, vitamin A is needed when proteins are processed in the body. If there is too little in the body, the vitamin A stored in the liver is used up and this in turn can increase the risk of cancer and immune diseases.
One undeniable advantage of low-fat milk is its calcium content. A glass of milk contains up to a third of the daily recommended calcium. By reducing the fat content, the absorption of calcium in the body becomes more efficient. So for older people, reduced-fat milk may be healthier for preventing osteoporosis and high blood pressure. However, research shows that for young women, consuming low-fat milk can inhibit fertility. Women who want to become pregnant should therefore prefer to drink whole milk.
Regarding total fat intake, it must be said that there are numerous other ways to reduce fat in the diet, so there is no need to replace a largely natural product with an artificially influenced one. Even though fat intake plays the main role in weight control, whole milk contains linoleic acids that help to reduce body fat and promote the production of muscle mass.
Despite the propaganda against saturated fats, there are many health benefits to those found in milk. The question is whether it is likely that the nutrients of whole milk, so important in young life, will turn into detrimental to health in later life? From a work by Dr Weston A Price in the 1930s, it appears that people who consume high amounts of saturated fat and cholesterol in the form of cow's milk have a high immunity to heart disease. So we cannot generally say that saturated fatty acids are to blame for diseases of civilisation such as heart disease, stroke or hardening of the arteries, but rather the nature of these fatty acids. Industrially produced foods are undoubtedly unhealthy because of their high levels of saturated fat and cholesterol, but whole milk is a natural food whose natural fat content cannot harm health as part of a balanced diet. Once this natural fat content is removed by artificial skimming, it makes more sense that the artificially produced end product is less beneficial to health.
