Which milk can I have when I have chronic kidney disease?
What a great question!
Milk has become very complicated. From UHT to fresh, to skim to full fat from A2 to A1, from almond to rice and soy and everything in between. This post aims to help you understand the different milks and determine the best option for your stage of kidney disease.
So where do you begin to navigate the choice?
It depends on a lot of things and what the priority is. You may need to limit your dairy intake if your blood potassium and phosphate levels are high. Dairy is good for our bones but when the kidneys are not functioning this can cause the level of blood phosphate to rise, bones may weaken and cause calcification of blood vessels.
So what to look for when purchasing milk?
Try to think about calcium, protein, phosphate and potassium. Food labels in Australia are not required to list potassium and phosphate on their labels so it can be tricky to navigate. Labels and compositions can change so it’s always good to recheck the label every now and again.
Here’s a resource to help you understand the nutritional composition of different milks at 100ml serve. Copy and paste this link
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vRvYJg73xY3YE2PbNrXFBzdTHtrWDrBgltBTccTcLAarXoeXjs7GSBs9ueay0IkPasFFzrsSWvhTmo7/pub
So what’s the bottom line?
If you have high potassium, the plant milks come out on top– coconut, almond or rice milk are good options. It would be wise to look at your consumption of soy and shape milks. Cows milk should have an allowance if your preference is cows milk dairy
If you have high phosphate levels – rice milk and coconut milk have the lowest containing phosphate. Again cows milk should have an allowance. Consider swapping from soy milk to another alternative.
Kirilee is a specialist dietitian with experience in renal disease. She sees clients on the North Shore and Northern Beaches of Sydney. If you would like more help navigating the renal diet in kidney disease please get in touch to achieve your nutrition and lifestyle goals.
References
Renal Diet Diary ap
Coles and Woolworths websites
