Which Milk Should You Pick?

Debunking Dr. Oz:Dr. Oz recently asserted that people should drink 2% milk instead of skim milk because skim milk contains too much sugar. That is simply not true.Removing the fat and cholesterol from milk does not change its lactose content. That is the only sugar in whole, 2%, and skim milk. Lactose is a naturally-occurring milk sugar.Of course, drinking 2% milk increases the percentage of calories from fat and saturated fat and increases the cholesterol content. None of this is good news for your health, especially for your heart.Over the course of a year, you could be taking in way more fat, cholesterol, and calories by drinking 2% milk instead of skim milk. For example, if you drank 3 cups of milk per day (the recommended serving of dairy, according to MyPlate), you would drink 32,850 more calories, with 5,475 more grams of fat (3,285 extra grams of saturated fat), and 16,425 more milligrams of cholesterol in a year than you would if you drank skim milk. The sugar content, however, would be exactly the same in both the skim and 2% varieties.Skip this dubious claim and stick to skim milk.By James J. Kenney, PhD, FACN