Milk — skimmed: how many calories?

Where do the calories come from?

• Protein 38%
• Carbs 57%
• Fat 5%

These percentages come from calories, not from grams: a gram of protein or carbohydrate counts as 4 calories, a gram of fat as 9. Alcohol is left out of the sum, fibre is counted with the carbohydrate, and the total always lands on one hundred.

What do these numbers mean on the plate?

Milk — skimmed carries 0.3 calories per gram: it takes 294 grams to reach 100 calories. In this band the portion is hard to misjudge by eye, because piling up calories means genuinely filling the plate.

A typical portion is 200 g. Because tables are written per 100 grams, counting the portion as 100 grams too is a common mistake; for Milk — skimmed that means understating the calories by 50%.

In calories, one portion (200 g · 68 kcal) comes to: 194 g Broccoli — boiled. Broccoli — boiled page

One portion every day adds up to 24,820 calories a year — roughly a 3.2 kg difference. This is a linear estimate and an upper bound: as weight changes, daily needs change with it. Build your own timeline

Calories in a drink go down without chewing, so they turn into little sense of fullness; the same calories from solid food would have covered part of a meal.

Household measure equivalents

A household measure measures volume and a scale measures weight; what links the two is the food's bulk density, and the table goes that way round. The same cup holds 10-20% more once the contents are packed down or chopped finer. Convert your own measure

How much of the daily reference intake?

The reference values are the figures EU Regulation 1169/2011 gives for an average adult — the %RI column on labels rests on the same numbers. They are not a personal target; the fibre row is not in the regulation, the 25 grams there is EFSA's adequate intake for adults. Work out your own calorie needs

Where does it sit within its group?

It is number 6 of the 13 foods in the Drinks group by calories per 100 grams. The group averages 32 kcal; Milk — skimmed is 7% above that average.

Lighter options at the same 200 grams

The “good swap” mark only appears when an option lowers the calories without also lowering protein and fibre per 100 calories. Unmarked rows save calories but give up nutrient density. Try it with your own portion

How long does it take to burn one portion (200 g)?

• Walking — brisk (5.6 km/h)17 min
• Running — 8 km/h (7:30 min/km)8 min
• Cycling — 16-19 km/h10 min

The times are for someone weighing 70 kilos and use NET burn: the resting calories that would have been spent anyway over the same period are subtracted. The heavier the person, the shorter the time. Calculate with your own weight

Foods with similar calories

• Broccoli — boiled100 g · 35 kcal
• Strawberry100 g · 32 kcal
• Watermelon100 g · 30 kcal

Which claims could its label carry?

EU Regulation 1924/2006 ties every label claim to a numeric threshold. Milk — skimmed meets 2 of them:

• Fat-free100 ml → 0.2 g fat · threshold: at most 0.5 g
• High protein40% of its calories come from protein · threshold: at least 20%

A claim on a label rests on that product's OWN laboratory analysis, whereas the numbers here come from average composition tables. The list is therefore not a permit but an estimate of which side of the threshold a product sits on. For drinks, the calorie and fat thresholds are set per 100 millilitres and are lower. Interpret your own label