Is Powdered Milk Bad For You?

Recently, a listener posted a question about powdered milk on my Facebook page. She was wondering whether it’s okay to use dried or powdered milk in place of fresh milk.

Powdered milk is, of course, less expensive than fresh milk. It’s relatively non-perishable, lightweight, and portable. Many include powdered milk in their emergency food stores.

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In terms of nutrients like calcium, protein, and potassium, dried milk is comparable to fresh milk. Like fresh milk, dried milk is usually fortified with Vitamin A and D. You can add dried milk to powder to breads and other baked goods, soups, sauces, smoothies, or other recipes to add protein and other nutrients.

As is typical of the nutrition information you find on the Internet, the claims about powdered milk are a jumble of fact, half-truths, and outright fallacies.

But if you research this question on the Internet, you’ll quickly come across a lot of sources claiming that powdered milk is extremely bad for you because it contains oxidized cholesterol, which is supposedly the most dangerous type. They also claim that powdered milk is added to all low-fat and fat-free milk in order to give it more body. And they say that there’s no way for you to tell whether or not your milk contains added dry milk because the packagers are not required to list powdered milk in the ingredient list. Pretty scary stuff.

As is typical of the nutrition information you find on the Internet, the claims about powdered milk are a jumble of fact, half-truths, and outright fallacies. So, let’s take a closer look at the properties and potential dangers of powdered milk.

How is powdered milk made?

In order to make powdered milk, pasteurized milk is first concentrated through evaporation. Then, it’s usually sprayed into a heated tank, which causes the remaining water to quickly evaporate, leaving dried milk solids. Milk can...

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