Best milk for cholesterol

What is the best milk to lower cholesterol?

Unsweetened soya or oat drink, with added calcium. Both have trials that found a fall in LDL, part of your bad cholesterol.

Love dairy? Choose semi-skimmed, 1% or skimmed. HEART UK says to switch to lower fat milk or fortified plant drinks, but not rice or coconut.

Think of milk as a daily swap, not a medicine. Dropping whole milk cuts saturated fat. Soya or oat may then nudge LDL down a few percent.

Start with the milk you use most, in tea, coffee or cereal.

Does whole milk raise cholesterol?

It can. HEART UK says trials show full-fat milk and butter raise LDL. Much of the fat in milk is saturated fat, and the NHS says too much of it can lead to high cholesterol.

Whole milk is about 3% fat. The NHS suggests swapping to 1% or skimmed. You keep the goodness of milk with less fat.

Give each step a week or two before the next. Don’t give 1% or skimmed to under-5s as a main drink.

Searching for low cholesterol milk? The cholesterol in food itself matters less. HEART UK says it’s much more important to limit saturated fat. NICE has dropped advice to cut dietary cholesterol.

Does oat milk lower cholesterol?

It may, a little. In one trial, 52 men with moderately high cholesterol drank 0.75 litres of oat milk a day for 5 weeks. Their LDL was 6% lower than on a rice drink. The fall was bigger in men who started higher.

The trials were small and short. They measured cholesterol, not heart attacks.

The trial drink had 0.5 g of beta-glucan per 100 g. Beta-glucan is the fibre in oats. HEART UK says 3 g a day lowers LDL by 0.24 to 0.6 mmol/L (the unit on your results).

Your shop oat drink may have less. Check the label for beta-glucan. Or get more from porridge: 30 g of oats gives about 1 g. Try overnight oats or other high-fibre foods.

Is soya milk good for cholesterol?

Yes, if you drink enough. HEART UK says 15 g of soya protein a day lowers cholesterol. That’s about two large glasses of soya drink.

So that’s the real amount: two large glasses of soya, or about three of oat. Not a splash in your tea.

Expect a small change. Across studies, 15 to 25 g of soya protein a day cut LDL by about 3%. Part of the gain comes from drinking it instead of full-fat milk.

Trials of soya milk alone are mixed. A review of 8 small trials found 3 with no real improvement in blood fats.

On a statin (a daily cholesterol tablet)? HEART UK says soya and oats can be used alongside statins without interfering. Never stop or change a prescribed medicine without your prescriber.

What about almond, coconut and rice milk?

Almond and pea drinks are on HEART UK’s list of choices, if unsweetened. But they aren’t among its cholesterol-lowering foods.

Skip coconut drinks. HEART UK says they’re often high in saturated fat, sometimes more than dairy. It leaves rice drinks off its list too.

Going dairy-free? Pick drinks with added calcium, or you may not get enough, the NHS says. See dairy-free protein for the rest of your plate.

Want a bigger change than milk? See cholesterol-lowering foods and plant sterols.

When to speak to a GP

High cholesterol does not usually cause symptoms. Only a blood test shows it. Speak to a GP if:

• You’ve never had a cholesterol test and you’re over 40, overweight, or high cholesterol or heart problems run in your family.
• Your total cholesterol is above 7.5 mmol/L, or you or a parent, brother, sister or child had heart disease before 60. NICE says to think about an inherited cause.
• Your total is more than 9 mmol/L, or your non-HDL (all your bad cholesterol) is more than 7.5 mmol/L. NICE advises a specialist check.
• You think you or your child has a milk allergy or intolerance. Don’t cut out dairy without speaking to a GP or dietitian.

Got a result already? See what your cholesterol results mean.