Milk and Vitamins

Recently I had a discussion with a client who told me she was drinking whole milk rather than low fat because she wanted to get the vitamin D in whole milk. I told her this wasn't necessary because low fat and skim milk also have vitamin D in them.

Then I got to wondering if the amounts of vitamin D were the same between whole, 2%, 1% and skim. I checked this online with the National Dairy Council and verified that this was indeed the case.

Here's the rundown including amount of fat, calories and vitamins in milk:

Whole milk is 3.25% fat and has 8 grams of fat and 150 calories per 8 oz. serving and may or may not be fortified with vitamin D in the amount of 400 international units (IU) per quart. If it is, there is a requirement that the label says it is fortified.

2% has 2% fat (clever that they call it 2%), 5 grams of fat and 120 calories per 8 oz. serving. Vitamin A and D must be added in the amount of 2000 IU vitamin A and 400 IU of vitamin D per quart.

1% has 1% fat (clever again), 2.5 grams fat and 100 calories per 8 oz. serving. It also must have vitamin A and D added in the same amounts as 2%.

Skim milk has 0 fat (now why don't they call it zero), 0 grams fat and 80 calories per 8 oz. serving. It too has vitamin A and D added in the same amounts as 2% and 1%.

So the winner for good health and optimum vitamins ......... drum roll please, is my choice: Skim milk (or zero milk if I can get this to catch on). It has no fat and just the same amount of vitamin D as whole milk plus the bonus addition of vitamin A.

Have you had your skim milk today?