Is Condensed Milk healthy?

Ah! Condensed Milk – the basic essence of many Indian sweets like kheer, rabri, kulfi etc. and some desserts like cakes and fudge too. Its luscious and creamy texture and sweetened taste can lure anyone, from a kid to an adult. Ranging from a cream to a pale yellow thick colour, this is a semi-liquid preparation which is made by removing most of the water from the cow’s milk. To this sugar is added mainly as a preservative. One advantage of using condensed milk in Indian sweets is reducing the cooking time of the recipe, while adding richness to the sweet. 

Nutritive Information for Condensed Milk:

½ Cup of condensed milk is about 160 grams
RDA stands for Recommended Daily Allowance.

Energy – 513 calories
Protein – 12.6 g
Carbohydrate – 86.7 g
Fat – 13.8 g
Fiber – 0 g

See full nutritional details of condensed milk in Condensed milk glossary click here.

How Healthy is Condensed Milk?

Well, as clearly evident from the above table, that the very first nutrient – energy – itself is very high (513 calories from ½ cup). That’s a lot! This is of most concern especially when most of it is because of the added sugar, which does not offer any benefit in reality. So weight watchers and those suffering from diabetes and heart disease as well as those aiming a healthy lifestyle need to definitely stay steer of this ingredient, though rich in taste. 

So the next question that may arise is – How healthy is condensed milk for weight gain? 

Here other nutrients also play a role. Condensed milk is a dairy product, so it is a concentrated source of protein and calcium, which are necessary to build strong bones. It does provide some B vitamins and potassium also. So condensed milk should be the preferred choice over plain sugar. The best idea would be make an instant porridge with oats and little condensed milk then. 

However, you also need to remember that eventually its sugar and fat laden which can lead to weight gain and can cause inflammtion in your body, if consumed frequently and in surplus amounts. And excess weight in most research papers has always proved to be one of the major cause of diseases like diabetes, heart disease and so on…. 

Thus condensed milk is not what one would advocate, but this sugar overload if enjoyed by adding just a tbsp. to your cup of coffee occasionally would do less harm to your body. Adding a whole can to make a cake or rabri would be considered as a guilty pleasure rather. The choice is yours now.