Full cream or Skim Milk?

Question

This may sound like a stupid question but I'm turning 16 years old in a few months and I'm still drinking full cream milk. I've heard many peeps my age drink skim milk. Is there any significant differences in drinking full cream and skim? I asked my parents but they say I'm too skinny and need to drink full cream milk? (I don't see how that fits in)

Answer 1

All milks, full cream, semi and fully skimmed have all the same nutrients. But they have progressively less fat. As a young woman it is important that you drink at least a pint a milk a day so that the calcium and vitamin D build you up a good bone mass. This will reduce your risks of osteoporosis in latter life.



However particularly these days, when so many of us end up overweight, you do not need the fat. Also animal fat is what leads to clogged arteries. So the more towards skimmed you move the better.



In terms of calories. Full cream is 66/100mls, semi is 47/100mls and skimmed is 34/100mls i.e. virtually half the calories.

Answer 2

While you are still developing and growing you should continue with the full cream milk. As you get older and use less energy then you will need to decrease on your fat intake and then you should go to Semi Skimmed milk. As you move on then the need for skimmed milk will be obvious.

Take it in these sort of steps and you will be OK. A real benefit of skimmed as opposed to full cream is that the skimmed contains more calcium by volume. So as you get older and you need more calcium and less fat then the skimmed will be the best to have. Also once you have skimmed milk regularly you will not go back to cream as the semi skimmed and the full cream milk will taste like cream. Skimmed lacks a lot of body, looks grey in colour and will take a few weeks to get used to.

Answer 3

I would say this depends on a number of things, one of them being your weight and level of activity. Overall, I would say don't drink the skim or whole milk. Choose either the 1%or 2%. I used to have great metabolism up until I was 30. I started to put on a few pounds and became concerned about my weight. I decided to try skim milk in order to cut down on calories, especially those from fat. Skim is hard to get used to, especially if you like eating cereal. But I got used to it. Then I found out that the fat content in milk is actually a good fat that helps you burn other kinds of fat. So why not drink whole milk? As they say, "There is such a thing as too much of a good thing." It's very important to think about your diet at your age. The habits you form as a teenager affect you for a lifetime.

Answer 4

jaynerox,



There's a little truth in what your parents say. Full-fat milk, which is normally 4% butterfat content, is higher in calories than 2% or skim. If you are "too skinny" (how much do you weigh, how tall are you, and how old?), then this would be one way of putting more calories into you.



However, it's not altogether the best way.





Now, what I'm about to tell you should not frighten you. This process occurs slowly. It just starts very early in life.



You see, we have found that heart disease starts in the very young. The PDAY study (Pathological Determinants of Atherosclerosis in Youth) has found that heart disease starts in childhood. Those youth with the highest LDL, lowest HDL, and highest incidence of smoking, were the worst diseased, but every body has it.



Subsequent to the early findings, we have discovered that heart disease starts very early, as young as eight and in some cases, five years old.



American Army doctors in Viet Nam foudn that healthy-looking young men of 18 had fatty deposits in their arteries. This surprised the doctors and started much of our investigation into the causes of heart disease.



Full-fat milk speeds this process, for it adds fats, cholesterol, and arachadonic acid (a fatty acid that makes internal inflammation worse. Inflammation starts the process of heart disease, and the fats deposit in our arteries, plugging them and turning into the hard plaques that eventually cause heart attacks) to our diet and thus to our bodies.



So, what your parents are doing is not helping your long-term health. They are doing it with the best intentions, but it's not really going to help you.



Now, this doesn't mean that what they have done will kill you before your time. If you decide to drink skim milk (you'll have to get used to the taste. It is thin, almost watery at first, but you'll soon get used to it. I did, and now I wouldn't drink any other kind) and to cut back on most fat in your diet, the fatty desposits will slowly disappear. You can do this yourself easily. It may irritate your parents for a while, because it will be a change, and we don't like change, but if you keep at it every body will get used to it.



Just one warning: though the logic of this would tell you to become a vegetarian (I am one for this reason. It's a much healtheir diet) do not become a vegetarian yet. You are too young, and your brain and nerves need the fats that a vegetarian diet just doesn't have. If you should become one, do so after you turn 25. Until then you need to develop, and there are things we get from meat that we just cannot get anywhere else.



There are other ways to increase the number of calories in your diet if you are too skinny, such as high-protein, high-calorie milkshakes with skim milk and skim milk powder added. Smoothies made of skim milk with egg or whey protein powder added. Peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Fat-free sour cream on your potatoes. Pancakes with lots of maple syrup. Cereal with fat-free yogurt on top (along with the milk) and maybe even a line of honey on it. Chocolate cake (ok, ok, so it's my one weakness. Big deal)



There are many ways to boost your caloric intake. I just wouldn't do it with fatty foods like whole milk or cheese. They cause too much harm in the long run.

Answer 5

Full cream milk is very bad for you. It is so fattening compared to semi skimmed.

Answer 6

It's all a matter of taste & fat content. I would say at your age, keep drinking the full fat (whole milk) if you like it. It would also depend on how much a day you're drinking. If it's just one or two glasses, whole milk is fine.

Answer 7

I think at your age you should keep drinking full cream milk to help give you strong bones because you haven't stopped growing yet you need all the calcium you can get

Answer 8

You mean whole milk, right? Keep drinking it, or switch to 2%. Skim milk tastes like like day-old bathwater.



People claim that it's fattening, but there are a lot of other foods that have far more fat and far less nutritional value.

Answer 9

the milk is separated by fat content------skim has none-then you have 1% fat--------------2% fat----then whole milk--------if you are too thin then yes it would be best for you to stick with whole milk-----------I use 2% because I'm at my ideal body weight and this is what I have found best for me at 22 years of age------hope this help you---friend!

Answer 10

whole milk has high fat, it's up to you to decide if you need the extra calories..personally, i drink skim and everything else tastes gross

Answer 11

try semi skimmed still full of nutrients but half the fat!!