Food Myth – Reduced fat milk has added sugar

Are you confused about which dairy milk to drink – full cream, reduced fat, skim? You’re not alone. Is it the fat content that worries you? Or have you heard that sugar is added to skim milk? Maybe you’re not sure which is better for you nutritionally? Let us try and clear up a few of the unknowns.

Read on…

Firstly, milk is just milk. Nothing added. In whichever form it’s a nutritionally dense whole food rich in nutrients such as calcium, protein, potassium, riboflavin, B12, vitamin D and A, and research suggests that the consumption of dairy helps to increase our lean body mass.

Now let’s deal with the “sugar” myth. Reduced fat and skim milk is full cream milk with the fat content reduced. With some of the fat in the milk removed, there is a higher concentration of the other remaining components remaining such as carbohydrate, protein, sugar and calcium. This is why reduced fat and skim milk may taste slightly sweeter. Furthermore the “sugar” content in milk is actually the naturally occurring low GI sugar, lactose.

“What about lactose free milk”, I hear you ask. Once again, there’s no sugar added. Lactase is added instead to breakdown the lactose into glucose and galactose. This aids digestion for people who are lactose intolerant.

Finally, the nutritional value of all the dairy milks is very similar, except for the calories and fat content. The reduced fat and skim options have slightly less fat and therefore fewer calories.

Take home message – If your cholesterol is high or you’re trying to lose weight, swapping to a reduced fat product may help, otherwise full cream products are not a problem.

 

Nadine Meggitt
Associate Nutritionist (Nutrition Society of Australia)

 

References:
Nutrition Australia Healthy Eating Advisory Service. 2021. MYTH or FACT blog: Regular, full cream milk has less sugar than reduced fat or skim milk. Retrieved from https://heas.health.vic.gov.au/news-events/myth-or-fact-blog-regular-full-cream-milk-has-less-sugar-than-reduced-fat-or-skim-milk/#:~:text=and%20skim%20milk.-,Do%20you%20avoid%20reduced%20fat%20or%20skim%20milk%20in%20your,because%20of%20the%20sugar%20content%3F&text=composition%20of%20milk*-,MYTH%20Busted!,reduced%20fat%20and%20skim%20milk.

Riverina Fresh. 2020. Lactose free milk – did you know? Retrieved from https://www.riverinafresh.com.au/news/lactose-free-milk/#:~:text=Lactose%20free%20milk%20is%20produced,typically%20taste%20a%20little%20sweeter.