Smart Balance...Milk?

I am no fan of Smart Balance Products. But that doesn't come as a shock to you. I can't think of another product that says 'overly processed' more than margarine. But a dear friend called me last night to say that she had seen a commercial for Smart Balance MILK. Milk?

Yes, Smart Balance, part of GFA Brands, is making a line of milks. The milks are all low fat, but mostly are fat free. And many have other things added back in to mimic the taste of 2% milk. Basically the products are fat free milk (which I am opposed to anyhow) with all kinds of vitamins added back in. Some have calcium added in, some have Omega-3s, some have vitamins C and E (vitamin C in milk seems just weird to me). But the one that takes the cake is the Smart Balance Fat Free Milk that has Omega-3s, Vitamin E and Plant Sterols. Wait, huh? Isn't milk an animal product? Why should it have plant sterols? And if the milk is fat free, how come they are adding in vitamins like Vitamin E and Omega-3's that are clearly fat related vitamins?? This makes absolutely no sense to me. Neither does the nutrition label.

How on earth can a product with one gram of fat per serving be labeled as fat free? And how come it lists total fat as 1 gram per serving, but none of that one gram is categorized as saturated, poly or monounsaturated or trans fat. What other kind of fat could that be? Each individual fat might be less than .5 grams and so could be rounded down to zero according to labeling laws, but clearly that doesn't make the product fat free. Doesn't this qualify as against USDA or FDA rules? Clearly all the animal fats have been removed from the milk and Sunflower Oil and Fish oil have been added back in to achieve the Vitamin E and Omega-3 claims. But those are fats, so the milk should not be labeled as fat-free.

Also, more protein than whole milk? That is only because they have added milk solids. This milk is totally pumped up with oils, synthetic vitamins and plant sterols. Whatever they are! That should be another post altogether!

Skip this milk. Drinking it is exactly the same as drinking fat free milk and chasing it with whey protein and a fish oil supplement. According to nutritiondata.com, whole milk (my much referred milk) has only 146 calories per cup versus the 110 of this milk. So for all that processing that strips the milk of its goodness, the stripping of the healthy milk fat, the ultra pasteurizing, the adding weird plant oils and synthetic vitamins, you save 36 calories. You know what I am gonna say!!!