Milk

[andrewlee]

My partner gives her 8 year old full fat milk because she believes it contains more calcium than semi skimmed. Is this true? I would have thought that the nutrition content of the semi skimmed was the same as whole milk, without the disadvantage of all tha textra fat. Any thoughts?

[joko]

as semi skimmed milk is just milk with the fat that rises to the top removed, i don't see the difference.

perhaps your pal is of the impression that skimmed milk is just watered down milk, as you'd be surprised how many people think that.

[Scarlett]

There is the same amount of calcium in skimmed as semi and full fat.

[malajusted1]

If you family claims income support and you have young children, they give you milk tokens.

The milk tokens can only be redemmed against full fat milk, because the milk is for the children not the family. So the government advocate it as better for children- although i like you cannot see how.

When i worked at Tesco- i used to enjoy making people put the semi skimmed back and only giving them the full fat in exchange for the tokens. What a jobs worth!!

[Loosehead]

get her to read the labels! Skimmed is usually better because it has less fat and it is often fortified with Vitamins and minerals.

[scoobysoo]

Hi

I'm a Nursery Nurse and the general opinion at the moment is:

0-1 - No cow's milk

1-2 Full fat milk

2-5 Semi Skimmed

After 5 even skimmed is fine - lower in fat with just as much calcium

Hope this helps

[Buenchico]

The usual guidelines are these. (They obviously exclude children who have an allergy to dairy products):
Children under 2: Only full fat milk should be given to all children.
Children between 2 and 5: Only full fat milk should be given (except when the child is significantly overweight).
Children 5 and over: Reduced fat milk can be given but parents should ensure that sufficient Vitamin A can be derived from an alternative source. (Reduced fat milk also has less Vitamin D than full-fat milk but, since there was never much present to start with, this is not really significant).

Chris

[AndrewHunt]

Theres actually more calcium in Brocolli. Good luck getting her to eat it though!

[nickmo]

And have a look at the Dairy Councils site at : http://www.milk.co.uk/

Lots of info including the pretty little cartoon cow you can 'milk' while reading the facts - cows have 32 teeth, so do they drink milk to make them strong as well??

/discuss (as the advert says)

[boobesque]

maladjusted, when i was pregnant i recieved milk vouchers and could get any milk

[Gef]

People who go on about full fat milk make me laugh. It is only 4% fat and yet you see them stuffing their shopping trolleys with skimmed or semi-skimmed PLUS crisps, chocolate etc,etc.

[zebra]

Posting this a bit late as just saw it, but I heard somewhere that semi-skimmed/skimmed is acutually more packed with vitamins and calcium due to the fact that fat has been reduced so the volume of the milk is the good stuff. Also to malajusted1 you can exchange a milk token for full or semi-skimmed milk as milk tokens are issued up to a childs 5th birthday and semi-skimmed can be given from around 2 years old.