Is formula milk better or fresh milk?

When babies are young, they mainly rely on milk as their main food. As babies grow up day by day, the staple food we provide for them is also changing. Due to concerns about the quality or price of formula milk, many parents want to replace formula milk with milk. However, this situation depends on the baby's situation. So, is formula milk better or fresh milk better? Let’s learn more about it through the following introduction.

Milk powder is made from fresh milk by concentrating and spray-drying, and its main nutrients such as protein, inorganic salts, and fat are not lost much. The difference is that after fresh milk is processed into milk powder, the utilization rate of amino acids is reduced to varying degrees, and vitamin B, vitamin C and niacin are destroyed, especially vitamin C. For example, 100 grams of fresh milk usually contains 1 mg of vitamin C, while the content in milk powder is very small. In addition, the originally tiny fat particles in fresh milk become larger after processing or the digestibility of protein decreases, so it is easy to cause indigestion, diarrhea, etc.

Compared with ordinary milk powder in terms of nutritional content and human absorption, fresh milk is better than ordinary milk powder and is especially suitable for infants and people with poor gastrointestinal function. Just make sure to sterilize fresh milk at high temperature before consuming it and do not store it for too long.

Milk powder also has many advantages, mainly that it is easy to store, transport and eat, and there are many varieties, including full-fat, sweetened, skimmed, full-fat instant and so on. With the rapid development of food industry technology, milk powder can be fortified and modulated during the processing process to moderately denature the milk protein in the milk, making it easier for the human body to digest and absorb. It can also supplement a certain type and amount of trace elements and other nutrients, making its nutritional content more comprehensive and reasonable than fresh milk and adapting to the needs of different groups of people.

Nutritional comparison between milk powder and fresh milk:

Milk powder is made by concentrating, spraying and drying fresh milk after sterilization. After fresh milk is processed into milk powder, the water content is reduced from the original 88% to 2%-5% (bottled), and the content of nutrients such as protein, inorganic salts, and fat is concentrated. For example, 100 grams of milk contains 3.3 grams of protein, while 100 grams of whole milk powder contains 30.6 grams; the contents of calcium, phosphorus, iron, vitamin A, B1, B2, PP, etc. are all increased. Most of the whole milk powder produced in my country is sweetened, some with sucrose, some with lactose, and the added amount is less than 20%. Generally, the carbohydrate content of whole milk powder is 35.5% per 100 grams. After fresh milk is processed into milk powder, the vitamin C is destroyed and the content is extremely low. The casein particles in milk powder become finer during processing, so it is easier to digest than milk.

When mixing whole milk powder into milk liquid, if it is based on the solubility ratio, the ratio is 1:4 (1 tablespoon); if it is based on the weight ratio, the ratio is 1:2 (1 gram of milk powder plus 8 ml of water). After the milk powder is prepared in this proportion, the fat and protein content is similar to that of fresh milk, while the sugar content is higher than that of fresh milk, so there is no need to add sugar.

Through the above introduction, we know that formula milk and fresh milk each have their own advantages. When choosing for the baby, it still depends on the baby's situation. If the baby is under one year old, it is better to drink formula milk. In addition, it also depends on the degree of digestion of the baby after drinking fresh milk, as long as there is no diarrhea.