Fairlife is a relatively new milk brand in the US, but it's quickly become one of the most popular. The brand describes its product line as "ultra-filtered milk" that contains 50% less sugar, and 50% more protein, than regular milk.
But is "ultra-filtered" milk really healthier than regular milk? What are the other ingredients in Fairlife Milk and are they healthy? Are there any questionable additives? And which flavor is the healthiest?
In this article we'll answer all of these questions and more, as we analyze the ingredients in Fairlife Milk to give our take on whether or not it's healthy.
We'll also pick the healthiest flavor of Fairlife Milk, and compare the healthiness of Fairlife Milk to other popular milk brands like Hood and Organic Valley.
Ingredient Analysis
The ingredients in Fairlife 2% Reduced Fat milk are shown above.
"Ultra-filtered milk" is processed through a filtration system that allows for higher protein content in the end product than traditional milk.
We can't find any clinical evidence about the health effects of this process, and higher protein content doesn't necessarily mean the milk is healthier than lower-protein milk.
Optimal protein intake is clinically shown to vary by weight and age, so Fairlife may be better for some consumers and worse for others depending on the rest of their diet.
The main health consideration when it comes to dairy, in our opinion, is whether or not it's sourced from grass-fed animals.
Fairlife does not appear to source from grass-fed animals, so we consider it to be less healthy than grass-fed milk.
As we documented in our article on is Fairlife Protein Shake good for you, milk from grass-fed animals is clinically shown to be richer in omega-3 fatty acids, and to have a more optimal fatty acid ratio than milk from conventionally-raised animals.
Fairlife Milk also contains synthetic vitamin additives, which we consider to be unnecessary.
Overall, we consider Fairlife Milk to be relatively healthy due to its macronutrient and micronutrient profile, but we don't consider it to be one of the healthier milk brands due to the sourcing from conventionally-raised animals.
Fairlife vs. the Competition
Here's how the healthiness of Fairlife Milk stacks up to other popular milk brands in our opinion:
Hood Milk
Very similar ingredients to Fairlife (including the vitamin additives) and appears to be sourced from conventionally-raised animals. Slightly higher in sugar.
Winner: Fairlife (by a small margin due to a slightly superior macronutrient ratio)
Organic Valley
Organic certification and sourced from grass-fed animals. Vitamin D3 is the only vitamin additive.
Winner: Organic Valley
Great Value Milk
Same ingredients and macronutrient profile as Hood Milk.
Winner: Fairlife (by a small margin due to a slightly superior macronutrient ratio)
What's the Healthiest Flavor?
Fairlife currently sells whole milk, 2% reduced fat milk, fat-free milk and chocolate milk.
The chocolate milk is by far the least healthy flavor in our opinion, because it contains the artificial sweetener sucralose (which is clinically shown to have negative effects on insulin function), and phosphates which were described in a medical review as "damaging to health," as we documented in our is Muscle Milk healthy article.
We consider the other versions to be equivalent from a health perspective, as we haven't come across any convincing evidence that reduced fat milk is healthier than whole or fat-free milk in healthy adults.
Is Milk Unhealthy?
A popular YouTube health and fitness creator named Jeff Nippard has a video examining whether or not milk is healthy:
