Buttermilk

What the research shows

Prototype

Not enough

published research on this page yet

1 health finding on this page so far · See the findings

A fermented dairy drink made from milk.

It adds a sour taste and helps bread rise when baked.

Written from Open Food Facts and English Wikipedia12

  • Not vegan
  • Vegetarian

What research says

Studies in people

  • Benefit

    Blood pressure3

    In people, drinking buttermilk for a few weeks lowered blood pressure slightly compared with a placebo drink.

How it’s made and used

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least two findings in people. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Products

The 6 most-scanned of 11,953 products on Open Food Facts that list buttermilk.

  • Bertolli Bertolli · 450 g 2 additives
  • Clover 500g Clover · 500 g 1 additive
  • Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli Crisps Walkers · 150 g 2 additives
  • Benecol Spread Benecol · 500 g 4 additives
  • Pringles hot cheese Pringles · 160 g 8 additives
  • Sour Cream & Onion Pringles 7 additives

References

  1. 1buttermilk: ingredient taxonomy entry. Open Food Facts.
  2. 2Buttermilk. Wikipedia. Accessed September 26, 2026.
  3. 3Conway V, Couture P, Gauthier S, Pouliot Y, Lamarche B. Effect of buttermilk consumption on blood pressure in moderately hypercholesterolemic men and women. Nutrition. 2014;30(1):116-9. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2013.07.021
  4. 4Novokshanova AL, Topnikova EV, Ababkova AA. [Analysis of amino acid composition of skim milk and buttermilk for the production of dairy drink when introducing whey protein hydrolysate]. Vopr Pitan. 2019;88(3):90-96. doi:10.24411/0042-8833-2019-10034
  5. 5Asano H, Kida R, Muto K, et al. Modulation of brown adipocyte activity by milk by-products: Stimulation of brown adipogenesis by buttermilk. Cell Biochem Funct. 2016;34(8):647-656. doi:10.1002/cbf.3241