What is Skim Milk

Many people do not drink milk because of its high calorie content, but facts show milk as the healthiest drink. Hence, for those people who are health conscious and do not want to gain weight, skim milk is the best option. Now you must be wondering what is skim milk. Skim milk is considered as fat free milk. This milk contains only traces of fat and is lower in cholesterol and calories as compared to the normal or whole milk. Skim milk is prepared simply by boiling the milk. After boiling, the upper thick portion or the creamy part is removed. The remaining milk is known as the skim milk and the process is known as skimming.

Factories which are involved in large scale supply of milk, use the centrifugation method to get skim milk. Milk is filled in big steel containers and then they are separated with the help of centrifugal force. In this method semi-skim milk is also formed. The thick or the creamy portion collected from the upper layer is used for the preparation of cheese, butter and other dairy products. The skim milk from the factory is pasteurized, which is done to kill the micro organisms. After pasteurization, the milk is also homogenized. Homogenization results in the breakdown of the fatty solids and hence they do not come up in the milk. This makes it important to boil the milk again to separate the upper creamy layer. The skim milk is then packed and supplied to various places. Many countries write fat free or low fat over the packets. Apart from this many people even wonder what is skim milk powder. Well, to get skim milk powder, skim milk is evaporated till it reaches the driest level. This is done to increase the milk shelf-life. It also solves the transportation and storing problems.

Skim Milk Nutrition Facts

Their are lots of nutrients in milk but you will be surprised to know that the nutritional value of skimmed milk is higher than whole or unprocessed milk. If we talk about the calories in skim milk, it has very less calories and fat as compared to the normal milk. You will understand the skim milk nutrition facts as compared to whole milk with the help of the below given table.

Constituents	Skim Milk (1 cup)	Whole Milk (1 cup)
Calories	86	150
Total fat (g)	0.4	8.2
Saturated fat (g)	0.3	5.1
Monounsaturated fat (g)	0.1	2.4
Polyunsaturated fat (g)	0	0.3
Dietary fiber (g)	0	0
Protein (g)	8	8
Carbohydrate (g)	12	11
Cholesterol (mg)	4	33
Sodium (mg)	126	120
Vitamin A	150	76
Vitamin D	2.5	2.4
Riboflavin (mg)	0.3	0.4
Vitamin B12	0.9	0.9
Calcium (mg)	301	290
Phosphorus (mg)	248	228

Health Benefits of Skim Milk

As shown in the above table, values of cholesterol, fat and calories in skim milk is lower than whole milk. This is the reason it is consumed by the people who want to reduce weight or are on diet. Hence it is also called as diet milk. Apart from this, rest of the skim milk benefits are under controversies. Some researches show that skim milk has nutritional deficiency and is known to destroy the goodness of whole milk. As you can get skim milk from the market there are chances of adulteration of the milk. Some people add skim milk powder to make the milk thick and then sell it in the market. Hence go for a branded skim milk product. Scroll over skim milk vs whole milk for detailed information.

I hope by now, what is skim milk is no more a question for you. If you are healthy and do not require weight loss, then it's better to stick to whole milk. Skim milk health benefits are a lot but they are still under question, so think before you switch to it.