Can I enjoy dairy if I have high cholesterol? How much and what type should I be having?

Last updated 17/01/2024

Cholesterol is a type of fat found in the body, particularly in your blood vessels and cell membranes. Your body produces cholesterol, and it's also found in some of the foods we eat. Cholesterol is useful since it helps us make some hormones and vitamin D, but too much and the wrong type can be detrimental to your heart health.

HDL-C or high density lipoprotein is the 'good' kind of cholesterol. We want enough HDL-C to be able to transport our not so good cholesterol away from our arteries and to our liver where it gets broken down and becomes waste.

LDL-C or low density lipoprotein cholesterol is the type of cholesterol we want to limit in our blood. This cholesterol molecule easily sticks to our blood vessel walls, narrowing them and limiting the blood flow to our heart. If you've been told to lower your cholesterol, chances are it's this cholesterol molecule that's high and that you need to address.¹

The risk factors for high cholesterol are age, smoking, not enough physical activity, overweight or obesity, family history, and an unhealthy diet that's high in saturated fat.²

We used to think that foods containing high amounts of cholesterol caused high blood cholesterol - we know now that in fact, it's saturated fat in foods that can drive up our LDL-C. So, where does that leave dairy foods?

When we're referring to dairy foods, we're referring to milk, cheese and yoghurt only. According to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, other dairy foods like ice cream, butter and cream don't have a regular place in a heart healthy diet as they are high in energy and don't get contain a lot of beneficial nutrients.³

You might be tempted to avoid milk, cheese and yoghurt since they contain some saturated fat. Limiting or completely avoiding dairy foods to reduce your cholesterol isn't necessary, since they provide a variety of benefits including calcium for strong bones, protein for muscle health and a variety of other nutrients important for overall health.⁴ In recent years, the Heart Foundation came out with updated guidelines on a heart healthy diet after a review of the scientific evidence. There's good news here - for those with high cholesterol, you can still enjoy milk, cheese and yoghurt as part of a heart healthy diet, but their recommendation is to go for reduced fat varieties where you can.⁵ . And for those with normal cholesterol and no heart disease, regular fat or reduced fat varieties of dairy are a-okay.

Most adults need about two and a half serves of dairy per day. More information on how much dairy you need can be found here.