“TL;DR: Dairy foods can indirectly cause cellulite via both saturated fat content or lactose / dairy intolerance. However, it is when dairy is combined with fat, sugar, starch and alcohol that it has a serious impact in relation to cellulite development.”
Dairy foods: Milk, cream, butter, yoghurt and cheese. Do they cause cellulite?
Do dairy foods cause cellulite?
(Saturated) fat in dairy products and cellulite
Dairy/lactose intolerance and cellulite
Dairy + Sugar + Starch + Fat + Alcohol
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Do dairy foods cause cellulite?
There are two things about the consumption of dairy foods and the development of cellulite:
Saturated fat (and fat content in general), which contributes to calorie load
Dairy intolerance, which can cause bloating, water retention and low grade, whole body inflammation
For most of the population, dairy foods are not as an important cellulite contributing factor as starches, sugar, fried food or alcohol, but for some they are indeed an important cause of cellulite.
Let’s have a look.
(Saturated) fat in dairy products and cellulite
Excess fat in take, especially saturated fat, can result in triglyceride (fat) accumulation in the adipocytes (fat cells), including the adipocytes of the hypodermis (deepest skin layer), where cellulite is found.
The most important contributing factor to such fat accumulation is cheese, cream and butter, as most people do not tend to consume enough full fat milk or full fat yoghurt to make a significant difference, fat-wise.
Indeed, heavy sauces based on butter and cream should be avoided, as well as excessive consumption of cheese.
Usually the above food products are also combined with starches, other fatty foods, alcohol and sugar, and that combination is definitely a “cellulite bomb” ready to detonate. Examples include:
Bread, butter and jam (carbs, fat and sugar)
Cheese and wine (fat and alcohol)
Cheese and jam/chutney (fat and sugar)
Cheese-pie (fat and carbs)
Pizzas, especially oily American style pizzas (fat and carbs)
Croissants, muffins, cakes, cookies, ice cream, milk chocolate and almost all desserts and baking products (fat, carbs and sugar)
Fatty meat cooked with a cream based sauce (fat and fat)
Melted butter on top of a fatty steak (fat and fat)
Toasted cheese sandwich (fat and carbs)
French toast (fat and carbs)
Pasties (fat and carbs)
Afternoon tea (fat, sugar and carbs galore)
To be honest, the examples are endless.
Of course, nobody said that we should never consume those foods - moderation is always the key. But minimising them will help prevent or reduce cellulite.
After all, our life is all about choices:
We can choose to indulge too much and have more cellulite (which doesn’t kill, so no reason to stress about it)
Or we can choose to indulge only occasionally and have less cellulite or none at all
One last note: saturated fat is not the best thing for cellulite or overall health. However, replacing saturated fats (i.e. cream, butter) with trans/hydrogenated fats (i.e. horrible margarine) in pasties, pastries etc is even worse.
Plus all types of fat contain the exact same amount of calories. So the fact that your croissant is not all-butter does not mean it is better for you - quite the contrary: it is equally calorific plus it contains horrid seed oils.
Dairy/lactose intolerance and cellulite: 4 things you did not know
A little known fact is that dairy foods can cause intolerance not just due to lactose but also due to the proteins in milk, both the whey and the casein protein fractions
Furthermore, contrary to popular wisdom, not all lactose is metabolised by probiotics during the yoghurt or kefir making process. A lot of lactose remains and can be a cause of intolerance.
Dairy / lactose intolerance can result in gastrointestinal symptoms, water retention and low grade inflammation, all of which can contribute towards cellulite, indirectly
And finally, casomorphin, a gut metabolite of casein can attach to opioid receptors and cause fatigue / sleepiness
Dairy + Sugar + Starch + Fat + Alcohol = cellulite
So, in combination, dairy can contribute to cellulite directly (via fat in cheese, cream, butter and full-fat yoghurt) and indirectly (via whey, casein or lactose intolerance).
However, the way in which dairy can become really problematic for cellulite is when combined with fat, sugar, starches and alcohol, as described above.
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