Greek yogurt

Greek yogurt is notable for lactose, histamine, tyramine and FODMAPs. Clear on salicylate, sucrose, oligosaccharides, sorbitol, fructose, nickel, oxalates and gluten.

Greek yogurt contains moderate levels of lactose. Greek yoghurt is fermented and then strained, and both steps take lactose out: the cultures eat part of it, and straining pours off the whey with the rest of it, landing around 2-3 g per 100 g against milk's 4.7. There is a second effect the label never mentions and EFSA has accepted: live yoghurt cultures carry their own lactase into the gut and go on digesting lactose there, which is why a live yoghurt sits easier than its figure alone predicts. Heat-treated yoghurt has no live cultures and loses that half of the benefit.

Greek yogurt contains only low levels of histamine. Greek yogurt is low because straining removes whey and concentrates the solids, but the short culture had produced little to concentrate. Histamine in dairy is a storage measurement, not a recipe one. Pasteurisation, starter culture, salt, pH and ripening time decide more than the name on the label.

Greek yogurt contains only low levels of tyramine. Greek yogurt is strained yogurt, concentrated from a short culture. On this axis dairy splits in two, and the dividing line is ripening: aged cheese is one of the four foods a MAOI diet excludes outright, while fresh dairy is among the safest things on the shelf. The same milk becomes either one.

Greek yogurt contains only low levels of FODMAPs. Greek yogurt is low because it is strained, so much of the lactose left with the whey. Amounts vary by brand and recipe, so always check the label of the exact product.