Lactose content of foods: the full chart
How much lactose is actually in the foods you're wondering about — in grams per typical serve, highest to lowest. Lactose lives only in milk and dairy, so everything here is either a dairy food or a plant-based food shown for comparison.
The short version: lactose is highest in milk (~12 g a glass), milk powder and fresh dairy, and lowest — often near zero — in butter, ghee and aged hard cheeses like cheddar and parmesan. Two things drive almost every number below: draining the whey removes most of the lactose, and ageing or fermentation breaks down what's left.
Foods high in lactose
Skim milk powder (~50 g/100 g), milk (~12 g a glass), kefir, yoghurt, ice cream and gelato, evaporated & condensed milk.
Milk & fresh dairy
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole (full-cream) milk | 4.6–4.9 | ~12 g (250 mL glass) | High |
| Skim milk | 4.8–5.1 | ~12–13 g (250 mL) | High |
| Lactose-free milk | <0.1 | ~0.1 g (250 mL) | None |
| Goat milk | 4.1–4.5 | ~10–11 g (250 mL) | High |
| Buttermilk (cultured) | 3.5–4.5 | ~9–11 g (250 mL) | High |
| Evaporated milk concentrated — high per 100 mL | 9–13 | ~3 g (30 mL in coffee) | Mod |
| Condensed milk (sweetened) used generously in desserts, so it adds up fast | ~10–13 | ~2–3 g (20 g) | Mod |
| Skim milk powder | ~50–52 | ~13 g (25 g, makes a glass) | High |
| Cream (pure / thickened) | 2.5–3.4 | ~0.8–1 g (30 mL) | Low |
| Sour cream | 2–4 | ~0.6–1.2 g (30 g) | Low |
| Crème fraîche | 2.4–3.5 | ~0.7–1 g (30 g) | Low |
Yoghurt & cultured
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Natural / plain yoghurt live cultures aid digestion — often better tolerated than the raw figure suggests | 3.8–4.7 | ~8–9 g (200 g tub) | High |
| Greek yoghurt (strained) straining removes some lactose-carrying whey | 2.2–3.0 | ~4–6 g (200 g) | Mod |
| Kefir active fermentation lowers the real figure | ~4 (nominal) | ~10 g (250 mL) | High |
Cheese — fresh & soft
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cottage cheese | 1.8–3 | ~2–3 g (100 g) | Mod |
| Ricotta whey-based, so retains more than other soft cheeses | 1–5 | ~0.5–2.5 g (50 g) | Low |
| Cream cheese | 2–3.6 | ~0.6–1.1 g (30 g) | Low |
| Mascarpone | 3–4 | ~0.9–1.2 g (30 g) | Low |
| Mozzarella | 0.3–1 | ~0.1–0.3 g (30 g) | None |
| Feta (brined) some databases list feta higher (~4 g/100 g); brined feta is generally trace | 0.1–0.5 | ~0.1 g (30 g) | None |
| Halloumi limited data | 0.5–1.8 | ~0.3–0.9 g (50 g) | Low |
| Brie / Camembert mould-ripening consumes the lactose | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g) | None |
Cheese — aged & hard
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheddar (aged) | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g slice) | None |
| Parmesan | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g) | None |
| Swiss / Emmental | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g) | None |
| Gouda (aged) | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g) | None |
| Edam | <0.1 | ~0 g (30 g) | None |
Butter & fats
Frozen
Chocolate & sweets
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milk chocolate | 5–9 | ~2–3.6 g (40 g row) | Mod |
| Dark chocolate brand-dependent; check for "may contain milk" | 0–1.5 | ~0–0.6 g (40 g) | None |
| White chocolate built on milk solids; varies widely | 2–8 | ~1–3 g (40 g) | Mod |
Protein powders & other
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whey protein concentrate | 4–8 | ~1.2–2.4 g (30 g scoop) | Low |
| Whey protein isolate | 0.5–1 | ~0.2–0.3 g (30 g) | None |
| Casein / caseinate | 0.1–1 | <0.3 g (30 g) | None |
| Custard (dairy, ready-made) estimate from milk content | ~3–5 | ~3–5 g (100 g) | Mod |
Plant-based (for comparison)
| Food | Per 100 g / mL | Per typical serve | Band |
|---|---|---|---|
| Soy milk | 0 | 0 g | None |
| Almond milk | 0 | 0 g | None |
| Oat milk | 0 | 0 g | None |
How to read these numbers
- Content isn't the same as tolerance. Yoghurt and kefir contain lactose, but their live cultures help digest it — many people handle them better than milk. Aged cheeses test near-zero on modern analysis even though older charts list them higher.
- Ranges are real. Ice cream, chocolate, soft cheeses and protein powders vary a lot by brand and recipe, so we show a range rather than a false single number. For a specific product, the on-pack nutrition panel is your best guide.
- Dose is what matters. Most people with lactose intolerance can handle some lactose — often ~12–15 g a day, spread out and eaten with food. It's the size of a single hit that usually triggers symptoms.
Common questions
What food has the most lactose?
Which dairy foods are lowest in lactose?
Is there lactose in cheese?
Which cheeses have the most and least lactose?
Why is yoghurt often easier to tolerate than milk?
How much lactose can a lactose-intolerant person handle?
Never guess at the supermarket again
Our free Living Lactose-Free in Australia cheat sheet sorts 60+ foods like these, with the Aussie swaps we'd reach for.
Get the free cheat sheet →Want to eat the real thing?
A lactase tablet lets many people enjoy dairy comfortably. See the ones we bought and tested against real dairy.
See what helps →Sources & method
Figures are compiled from food-composition databases and peer-reviewed analyses, shown as ranges where sources differ. Bands are assigned by grams of lactose per typical serve: None under 0.5 g · Low 0.5–2 g · Moderate 2–5 g · High over 5 g. This is general information, not medical advice.
- Portnoi PJ & MacDonald A (2015). The Lactose and Galactose Content of Cheese Suitable for Galactosaemia, JIMD Reports — HPAEC-PAD analysis showing aged hard cheeses, butter and ghee are effectively lactose-free. springer.com
- Shakerdi L. et al. (2022). Determination of the lactose and galactose content of common foods, Food Science & Nutrition 10(11) — butter, yoghurt and processed-cheese figures. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- USDA FoodData Central — milk, skim milk and goat milk values. fdc.nal.usda.gov
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand — Australian Food Composition Database (AFCD), the authoritative Australian reference. foodstandards.gov.au
- Ohio State University Extension — Lactose Content of Foods fact sheet (banded per-serve figures). fcs.osu.edu
- foodintolerances.org — lactose content of food (based on the Souci-Fachmann-Kraut food-composition tables). foodintolerances.org
- Lacteeze Australia — Lactose Content of Common Foods (Australian-facing table). lacteeze.com.au
Notes on uncertainty: brined feta is listed at trace levels by cheese-chemistry sources, though some databases (e.g. USDA) list it higher — treat feta as low-but-check. Custard, casein and whey figures rely partly on manufacturer data and vary by product grade. For an exact Australian figure on a specific food, look it up in the FSANZ AFCD or check the product's own nutrition panel.