Cheese – good for you or bad for you? – What to look for:
It seems that even cheese can be quite a controversial food or possibly it may be that there is some kind of controversy with most food. Some people feel that cheese is an evil cholesterol spewing, article-clogging, fat accumulating pariah, responsible for heart disease throughout the US. Others claim that the benefits of this miracle food include reduced risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. Fortunately, the gap between these two views is large enough to have quite a substantial number of reasonable views based on consumption in moderation.
What to look for:
When looking at cheeses the following criteria were found to be the most important.
- Low Saturated Fat
- Low Total Fat
- High Protein
- Low Sodium
- High Calcium
There was also a lot of discussion on the value of cheese in providing some of the less common nutrients such as magnesium, folate, B1, B2, B6, B12, and vitamins A, D, and E
A more moderate view would be that cheese and dairy foods in general have a variety of benefits when consumed responsibly. Cheese can be a great source of calcium, protein and various other nutrients such as vitamin A and D. Unfortunately, it can often contain a lot of saturated fat and cholesterol, and so monitoring the fat levels in the cheese you eat is recommended.
Foodessentials Lists to help you make better food choices:
List of Resources and reviews:
WebMD – 6 reasons to get your dairy
As always I kick off the resources with a WebMD article. Typically, this article took a very moderate position discussing the various advantages of cheese – provided it was low fat cheese. Interestingly they state that “statistics show that while Americans’ consumption of whole milk and butter has been going down, cheese and premium ice cream are on the rise”. The article is based around the many benefits of dairy & cheese consumption including:
Calcium and Protein
Vitamin D, which helps the absorption of Calcium
Increase Bone Density
Lower blood pressure
Reduce risk of diabetes and heart disease
Weight control
Cheesematters.com – cheese and nutrition:
Obviously a pro cheese article but does a good job of briefly and succinctly summarizing the benefits of each of the nutrients and ingredients found in cheese including a description of why those nutrients are beneficial.
Fifthtown.ca – cheese fat:
A little little piece discussing the fact that there are good and bad fats in cheese stating “Cheese is made from whole milk is known to contain most of the essential fatty acids needed by your brain and body. And trans fats in cheese are naturally occurring; not artificial.”
Choice.com.au – Cheese:
This is actually an Australian article but it is a very useful over in the format of a FAQ post. There are lots of beneficial statistics and discussion about the daily values. Uniquely, this post also provides info about what kinds of cheese are low in salt, high in salt, low in calcium and high in calcium.
Center of Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) – cheese:
“Cheese Is the Number-One Source of Artery-Clogging Fat in American Diet”. This article doesn’t hold back on discussing the problems caused by cheese and the effect of cheese on the US population. It seems to try to link the 3 fold increase in the consumption of cheese and the increase in heart disease. There are some good points and some valuable information on the consumption trends and the fact that calcium can be gained from other sources.
Meanshealth.com – The Health Benefits of Eating Full-Fat Cheese:
On the other end of the scale the in house dietitian at menshealth claims that the benefits of consuming full fat cheese outweigh the cons. He goes on to say that the “combination of protein and fat in regular, full-fat cheese is very satiating” as a result this satisfies your hunger and leads to the consumption of less calories. The article also briefly touches upon a study that states that the consumption of full fat cheese has no relation to LDL (bad) Cholesterol.
With this information will you check fat levels of your cheese next time you go shopping?
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So often when topics like dairy are debated, one side will give all the healthy “Marketing Opportunity” good points and the other side will give all the worst case “you are going to die tomorrow” stuff.
If you step back and look at the big picture you will see that the problem with cheese is that it is in almost everything we eat.
It is on sandwiches, salads, egg dishes. It covers steak, chicken and tortilla chips. The list goes on and on but I am sure you get my point. Cheese is just a habit that we practice over and over again all day, every meal.
This reminds me of the sugar VS corn syrup debate. The problem is not that one is so much worse than the other, the problem is the amount of sugar it takes to make people happy. Over the years the percentage of sugar in recipes has gone up as our tastes have become tempered to the sweetness. It is also a cheap way to bulk up a recipe while removing more expensive in ingredients like chocolate or vanilla.
Sometimes I think that these arguments are just smoke screens that avoid addressing the real issues!!
Dave Schy
Hi Dave,
Thanks for your comment.
You make a good point. These types of arguments can be taken too far at times. In this article we tried to mediate the argument which already existied on the subject of cheese. I feel as though we were balanced. But at the end of the day, Cheese is not going to harm you if you eat it in moderation. I have French relatives who eat plenty of the stuff and they are still in very good shape. The other side of the coin, is that people should be aware of the risks of consuming foods such as cheese in larger quantities, and the harm that it can cause.
Thanks again for your comment!
Cheers,
Dagan Xavier