Getting through the keto diet can be pretty tough without having done the proper research. Even if you’re keeping well within your macros, sometimes there are certain foods and nutrients that might be working against you when trying to maintain a state of ketosis.

One thing that a lot of people have experienced some misinformation about is dairy, and whether or not you can actually eat too much dairy while following a keto diet.

After all, cheese is one of the best ways to help curb those snack cravings, especially in the early adjusting phase. Even more, dairy is usually a good source of fat and protein, so it’s hard to imagine anything bad could come out of eating a lot of it on keto.

In this article, I’ll explain all the ins and outs of dairy and ketosis, and will put any myths or questions to bed regarding how much dairy is too much. But first, let’s see what actually would happen if you had ‘too much’ dairy while in a state of ketosis.

What Happens If You Have Too Much Dairy on Keto?

When consumed in moderation, dairy can be a great benefit to the keto diet because of it’s macronutrient profile, and rich micronutrients such as calcium and vitamin D. However as you’ll see in more detail below, it does have some pretty gnarly side effects when consumed in excess, and could even pose a threat to maintaining your state of ketosis.

Because dairy products like milk and cheese are so high in protein, consuming too much of them could lead to a state known as gluconeogenesis.

Gluconeogenesis refers to the state in your body where sugar is produced within the blood stream due to consuming too much protein. The body is essentially creating glucose from non-carbohydrate sources – in other words, a keto dieter’s worst nightmare.

Another negative way that dairy can affect ketosis is through your body’s insulin levels. Dairy has been known to raise insulin levels within the body, which can result in some spikes in blood sugar.

This is technically true for all proteins, because amino acids require the release of insulin to help with muscle growth in a lot of cases, and is usually perfectly fine. However, certain types of people might be more sensitive to these effects from dairy, and should proceed with caution when incorporating it into a ketogenic diet.

Generally though, as long as you stick to your macronutrient goals, you shouldn’t have to worry about consuming too much dairy on a keto diet. Dairy can be a great way to help reach your fat count for each given day, and help build up your protein as well. When it comes to dairy products like milk and yogurt, you may find a lot of sugar or higher than average carbohydrate counts, so it’s a good rule of thumb just to always read nutrition labels.

Benefits of Dairy

• Suppresses appetite

Because dairy is rich in protein and healthy fats, it’s widely known to have appetite suppressing effects in our diets.

One study found that consuming cow and especially goat dairy resulted in experiencing much less hunger and an improved level of satiety, while another reported that cottage cheese was measured to be just as satisfying and filling as eggs among a controlled group of respondents.

Even low fat products of dairy have been reported to come with hunger reducing effects, at least in the short term. Recent research suggests that a diet of low fat enriched with fiber and protein has been linked to reduced hunger in the short window of time after eating, which can be a great way to prevent overeating between meals.

• Promotes weight loss

This benefit has some conflicting research depending on a bunch of other factors. Certain types of people have noticed effective weight loss when incorporating dairy into their diet, while others noticed great amounts of weight loss when cutting out dairy, so it can be a little confusing to know what’s best.

Generally when following a ketogenic diet, dairy is best to be viewed as a good thing. As we saw above, dairy helps to curb hunger, which can obviously help contribute to weight loss because you’ll be eating less. But also if you’re already following a low carb diet, the fat and protein you’ll get from dairy will be working for you rather than against you because once you’re in a state of ketosis, your body is fat adapted and much more efficient and using fat as energy.

• Lowers cortisol and reduces abdominal fat

Dairy has also been linked to assisting with lowering levels of cortisol, which is one of the main stress hormones that is heavily linked to an increase in abdominal fat storage when it is released by the body in large quantities.

Stress has been linked to weight gain and weight loss prevention in a variety of ways, but it’s the abdominal fat link that you should be the most concerned about when it comes to body fat.

In one recent study, dairy was proven to help lower cortisol levels in women on calorie-restricted diets, who then saw decreases in both weight loss and a reduction in their waistlines (abdominal fat).

• Good source of calcium and vitamin D

Most types of dairy, especially milks and cheeses are extremely high in calcium, which is a vital nutrient that helps to support bone growth, digestion, muscle growth, and a variety of other essential bodily functions.

The recommended daily amount (RDA) of calcium for adults under the age of 50 years old is roughly 1000 milligrams, which is pretty easy to get when including dairy in your diet. While you can get calcium from other types of foods like nuts, beans, and leafy vegetables, calcium also comes with a lot of additional nutrients like magnesium, vitamin A, and vitamin D, which has its own suite of benefits.

Vitamin D works with calcium because it helps the body absorb calcium that’s consumed through the food we eat. Vitamin D is also a fairly common experienced deficiency, which is why so many doctors recommend amping up dairy consumption whenever possible.

• High in whey and casein proteins

On top of being a good source of healthy fat, calcium, and vitamin D, most forms of dairy are great ways to get a lot of important proteins, namely whey and casein.

Whey you may know as it’s one of the most popular ingredients in a lot of common protein powders, and casein has started to become more widely used because of its slow-digestion properties (one of the factors that contributes to that suppressed appetite I mentioned earlier).

Research has shown that whey protein’s main benefit is contributing to building healthy muscle mass better than any other proteins, while casein protein’s primary benefit is making digestion rates more efficient.

Downsides of Dairy

• Can cause inflammation

Dairy is classified as an inflammatory food, meaning that it will naturally contribute to inflammation within the digestive tract of the body after it’s consumed, which isn’t great for maintaining a state of ketosis.

While this might be alarming for those who are supplementing ketosis with an overall anti-inflammatory diet, the research is currently pretty inconclusive, and I honestly think the benefits tend to outweigh this side effect, if you’re eating dairy in good enough moderation while on keto.

While one study found that consumption of dairy was directly correlated with inflammation, it didn’t take milk intolerance and allergies into account, which are much more likely triggers of inflammation over the dairy itself.

• Increased cancer risk

There is some general evidence linking long periods of dairy consumption to increased risk of prostate cancer in men, but it’s important to remember that correlation does not always equal causation.

As an example, one study found that some men they observed who had more than 2.5 servings of dairy per day ended up leading a 34% greater risk of developing prostate cancer, compared to those who only consumed 0.5 or fewer servings per day.

However on the other hand, another study found that this evidence linking the two together is inconsistent, signaling that dairy actually may be linked to reducing risk of developing other types of cancer such as colon cancer, breast cancer, and bladder cancer.

Because of the current confliction in these correlations, if you’re truly worried about the long term effects of dairy consumption, it’s best to talk to your primary care doctor.

• Most people are intolerant to it to a certain degree

Lactose intolerance is actually the norm for most humans, and those who are tolerant of it became that way through genetic mutations over generations of evolution.

Milk technically wasn’t a part of the diet of our ancestors, because only until recently (the last 1000 years or so), all humans weren’t able to tolerate dairy in their digestive systems. If you are lactose intolerant, you definitely don’t have to eat dairy to get the nutrients you need on a keto diet, and you may be saving yourself a lot of unwanted symptoms like bloating, nausea, and inflammation in the long run.

• Can be high in sugar (lactose)

This is one of the biggest problems I have with milk, of all other dairy products. If you’ve been doing a good amount of research on the keto diet, you’ll notice that standard cow’s milk isn’t usually recommended in most recipes and meal plans, and that’s largely because it’s extremely high in sugar.

The sugar in cow’s milk is technically known as lactose, which as a disaccharide, still contributes to your net carbs and can spike your blood sugar levels

Even with full fat or nonfat milk, you’re bound to find considerable amounts of sugar per serving, which can really hurt your net carb counts, especially if you’re using milk in large quantities for things like baking or making smoothies.

Because of this, I try to replace milk with almond milk wherever possible. Almond milk is great because it’s pretty nutrient dense, and is one of the lowest carb alternatives available at a low cost.

Best Dairy Options for Keto

• Grass Fed and Organic

Eating grass fed, organic dairy is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re getting some of the healthiest, highest quality products available. A lot of American dairy products come from cows that have been pumped with growth hormones and fed poor diets, which can drastically alter the dairy’s nutrition.

The University of Minnesota recently disclosed findings that cows that are grass fed naturally yield dairy with higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, as opposed to higher amounts of omega-6 fatty acids, making them much healthier from a fat perspective.

Along with healthier fats and no hormones, grass fed cows are less susceptible to contagious illnesses, and less antibiotics are used on them, and most importantly of all they are raised much more humanely, which should be important to both vegetarians and non-veg keto dieters.

• Pasteurized vs Raw

While raw dairy is often considered to be more natural, and is sworn by a lot of members of the keto diet community, pasteurized dairy comes with more keto-friendly benefits in my opinion. There’s a lot of research on both sides of this discussion, but raw milk is still more likely to transmit food born diseases and other serious illnesses. From a nutritional perspective, they tend to have the same exact makeup.

Ideal sources of dairy:

• Sour Cream
• Butter
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Cream Cheese
• Cottage Cheese
• Plain Greek Yogurt (full fat)
• Swiss Cheese
• Gouda Cheese
• Muenster Cheese
• Brie

Final Thoughts

As you can see, dairy, like all foods, is perfectly fine in moderation, and is honestly one of the better foods for following a keto diet from a macronutrient perspective.

There are some cases where certain sources of dairy can be harmful, such as blood sugar spikes from lactose or gluconeogensis from consuming too much protein. However if you log all of your food and drinks in a macro counting app, it’ll be a lot easier to see if you need to pump the brakes on your dairy consumption, or you’ll find that there really isn’t that much to worry about.