Whole Milk vs Skim Milk nutrition
Whole milk has more fat and calories. Skim milk has more protein, potassium and calcium.
- Whole milk100 g
- Skim milk100 g
Each row is scaled on its own: the larger amount fills the bar. The numbers on the right are the real amounts.
Each food is weighed the same: 100 grams of each. The longer bar has more.
Show all 15 nutrients
Exact amounts and % Daily Value
| Nutrient | Whole milk | Skim milk | Daily Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calories | 61 kcal (3%) | 34 kcal (2%) | 2,000 kcal |
| Protein | 3.1 g (6%) | 3.4 g (7%) | 50 g |
| Fat | 3.3 g (4%) | 0.08 g (<1%) | 78 g |
| Saturated fat | 1.9 g (9%) | 0.06 g (<1%) | 20 g |
| Carbs | 4.8 g (2%) | 5 g (2%) | 275 g |
| Fiber | 0 g (0%) | 0 g (0%) | 28 g |
| Sugar | 5 g | 5.1 g | none set |
| Cholesterol | 10 mg (3%) | 2 mg (<1%) | 300 mg |
| Salt (sodium) | 43 mg (2%) | 42 mg (2%) | 2,300 mg |
| Potassium | 132 mg (3%) | 156 mg (3%) | 4,700 mg |
| Calcium | 113 mg (9%) | 122 mg (9%) | 1,300 mg |
| Iron | 0.03 mg (<1%) | 0.03 mg (<1%) | 18 mg |
| Magnesium | 10 mg (2%) | 11 mg (3%) | 420 mg |
| Vitamin A | 46 µg (5%) | 61 µg (7%) | 900 µg |
| Vitamin C | 0 mg (0%) | 0 mg (0%) | 90 mg |
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How the numbers are taken. Amounts are per 100 g of the edible part, from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy, public domain), in the state named — raw, boiled, roasted and so on. Percentages use the FDA Daily Values for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; your own needs can be different. This site compares amounts — it does not give diet or medical advice. Sources and limits.
What is being compared
This page compares whole milk and skim milk as USDA FoodData Central lists them: “Milk, whole, 3.25% milkfat, with added vitamin D” (FDC 171265) and “Milk, nonfat, fluid, with added vitamin A and vitamin D (fat free or skim)” (FDC 171269). All figures start from 100 grams of the edible part.
Per 100 grams
Per 100 grams, whole milk has more calories (61 vs 34 kcal, 1.8 times as much), fat (3.3 vs 0.08 g, about 41 times as much), saturated fat (1.9 vs 0.06 g, about 31 times as much) and cholesterol (10 vs 2 mg, 5.0 times as much). Skim milk has more protein (3.4 vs 3.1 g), carbohydrate (5 vs 4.8 g), potassium (156 vs 132 mg), calcium (122 vs 113 mg), magnesium (11 vs 10 mg) and vitamin A (61 vs 46 µg). They are within 3% of each other for fiber, sugars, sodium, iron and vitamin C.
Read the rest — 4 more sections
Per serving
A serving as USDA measures it is 1 cup of whole milk (244 g) and 1 cup of skim milk (245 g). The two servings weigh about the same, so the per-serving picture follows the per-100 g one closely. No nutrient changes leader when you switch from 100 g to servings. One serving is 149 kcal of whole milk against 83.3 kcal of skim milk.
For the same calories
To get 100 kcal you would eat 164 g of whole milk or 294 g of skim milk. At that equal energy, whole milk carries 5.2 g of protein and skim milk 9.9 g. Measured per 100 kcal, every nutrient keeps the same leader as per 100 g.
Where the calories come from
Roughly, 21% of the energy in whole milk comes from protein, 48% from fat and 31% from carbohydrate; for skim milk it is 40%, 2% and 58%. These shares use the general 4, 9 and 4 kcal per gram and can differ slightly from USDA's own energy factors.
Against the Daily Value
1 cup of whole milk reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in saturated fat (23%), calcium (21%) and protein (15%); 1 cup of skim milk reaches its largest shares of the Daily Value in calcium (23%), vitamin A (17%) and protein (17%). Daily Values are the FDA label reference amounts for adults and children aged 4 and over, set around a 2,000-calorie diet; they are a yardstick for reading labels, not a target for any one person.