Nutrition

Is Cheese Good For You

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Cheese is a versatile dairy product that is produced in various flavors, and textures. It is prepared from the coagulation of the milk which is obtained mainly from cows, buffalos, sheep, and goat. It can be eaten in many ways ranging from adding to pasta, pizza, and noodles, to cheesecake, pastries, sandwiches, and so on. 

We consume cheese either directly or indirectly in everyday life. Since it tastes sweet, creamy, and a bit salty, most people love it when it's included in the dishes. Besides its taste, a lot of nutritional values are contained in it that give several health benefits when consumed in moderation. 

Is Cheese Healthy For You?

All dairy products hold some level of beneficial characteristics. Dairy products contain protein, calcium, probiotics, and several other essential vitamins and minerals. This is why there's high market demand. One of the beneficial dairy products is cheese. It can be found in several options such as ricotta, brie, mozzarella, etc. The taste and texture also vary according to their names. 

Yes, cheese is healthy only when you have it in limit. Cheese is packed with various essential nutrients that your body needs daily. Nutrients such as protein, calcium, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics are primarily found in this dairy product. Eating the optimum amount of cheese helps to fulfill the nutrition to a certain extent in your body. 

All these nutrients in combination provide various health benefits including muscle repair, bone health, smooth heart functioning, and energy production. 

Nutritional Facts About Cheese

The detailed information of nutrients that 100 grams of per serving cheese holds are mentioned below:

  • Calories: 404
  • Total fat: 33 g
    • Saturated fat: 19 g
    • Monounsaturated fat: 9.2 g
    • Trans fat: 0.9 g
    • Polyunsaturated fat: 1.4 g
  • Cholesterol: 99 mg
  • Sodium: 653 mg
  • Carbohydrates: 3.1 g
  • Protein: 23 g
  • Calcium: 710 mg
  • Iron: 0.1 mg
  • Potassium: 76 mg

As you can see the cheese is rich in protein, total fat, and calories.

Protein

Cheese is highly packed with a proportion of protein. The protein content in cheese is responsible for repairing and building muscles in your body. It also contributes to fulfilling the 46% of the total protein your body needs in a day.

Calcium

Cheese is dense with calcium components. This component plays a vital part in boosting bone health, strengthening the teeth, and better functioning of the heart and nerves. Overall, it provides up to 55% of the daily calcium need. 

Health Benefits Of Cheese

Since most dairy products are known for their beneficial components so as cheese. You might be consuming cheese daily without knowing its positive impacts on your body.  For your ease, we have listed down the 10 health benefits of cheese:

1. Positive Effect On Your Dental Health

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Cheese has more calcium content than that in milk. The calcium in it strengthens the tooth enamel since it aids in remineralizing the process that controls early-stage tooth decay. Similarly, the cheese is filled with phosphorous that works simultaneously with calcium to further boost the dental power. 

Besides that, cheese also requires you to chew it and this process produces saliva. The saliva helps to cancel out harmful acids and supply minerals that contribute to repairing and protecting enamel.  

2. Helps To Build Muscles

Since the cheese is made from milk which is filled with protein, the same component is found in the cheese as well. But the content of protein is high in cheese. This nutrient is crucial for muscle repair and growth. This is possible because the protein has amino acids that contribute to the process of recovery and growth. 

Additionally, cheese is also a source of healthy fats that further provide energy and support the overall functions of the body. Incorporating cheese as a part of your daily diet helps to fulfill the protein needs in your body. 

3. Helps To Lower Blood Pressures

One of the health benefits of having cheese is to help in balancing the blood pressure. Cheese is high in calcium which acts as a regulator to normalize blood vessels and support vascular function. Whereas some cheeses that are low in sodium neutralize the effects of excess sodium that induces blood pressure. All of these results in balancing out the blood pressure. 

Regardless of the benefits it holds, moderate consumption is crucial to manage the pressure in blood vessels and nerves. 

4. Help With Thyroid

Thyroid has become a very common problem among women. Even if we look into our friends' circle, there will be a friend with this problem. You can see how usual it is. To deal with this, cheese can play a crucial part. It's because cheese is a great source of iodine which generates thyroid hormones. These hormones control metabolism and energy levels in the body.

Besides that, the cheese also has selenium that energies thyroid hormones and guards the thyroid gland from oxidative stress. So, if your friends or family members have thyroid issues, suggest them start having cheese in moderate amounts. 

5. Helps With The Digestion

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The calcium content in the cheese helps to balance digestive enzymes and full muscle function in the gastrointestinal tract. While preparing the cheese from the curdled milk, healthy bacteria such as lactobacillus develop. This bacteria helps to keep the gut clean and healthy facilitating a more powered digestion system. 

Besides that, Old cheeses have probiotics, a microorganism, that support gut health by forming a protective layer in the digestive tract. This helps to minimize the harmful effects of free radicals in the stomach. 

6. Helps To Promote Mental Health

In this era of the majority getting the victims of anxiety and depression, cheese plays a crucial part in helping to heal mental health issues. Here's how. Most of the cheeses have a good amount of vitamin B12. This vitamin helps to produce red blood cells, and protein and balance out the emotional hormones. 

Cheese also has protein and amino acids, both of which induce the supply of serotonin which helps to regulate mood swings. Besides this, the content of probiotics influences gut health positively and your gut health is directly connected to your mental wellness. Making a good amount of cheese not only helps to obtain these health benefits but also gives you emotional joy and relaxation. 

7. Helps To Prevent Common Cancers

One of the major health benefits cheese gives is to help to prevent some cancers such as breast and colorectal cancers. It's possible because cheese is a good source of calcium, and vitamin D, both of which make your bone health better and boost immune function.

The healthier the immune system, the greater its strength to fight harmful particles in the body. The antioxidant properties in cheese fight against harmful particles and viruses as well as strengthen cells by controlling oxidative stress.

Besides that, probiotics content also contributes significantly to enhance gut health as a result minimizes the chances of colorectal cancer. With these benefits, it's best to start making cheese a part of your diet and make sure to consume it in moderation. As a result, you stand a step forward from the risk of cancer. 

8. Helps To Prevent Heart Disease And Diabetes

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Cheese contains some essential nutrients like calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These nutrients are very good for managing cardiovascular health by regulating blood pressure and heart functions. Cheese is also high in protein and good fats, both of which aid in reducing low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and induce healthy cholesterol high-density lipoprotein. As a result, it helps to improve heart health. 

Additionally, protein and healthy fats adjust the glucose levels in the blood by reducing the absorption of carbohydrates. It's wise to consume cheese in moderation to experience these health benefits. 

9. Helps To Gain Healthy Fats

Cheese has a good amount of total fat. This fat consists of monounsaturated and saturated fat. These fats provide a high level of energy for your body to function properly and reduce inflammation due to the involvement of antioxidant properties. 

Along with that, the fat component helps to absorb vitamins such as A, D, E, and K. This further contributes to the supply of required nutrients in your body as a result helping to gain healthy fats. To obtain this benefit, always look for cheese that is less processed.

10. Helps To Boost Immune System

There lots of beneficial nutrients like vitamins and minerals are found in cheese. Vitamins such as A and D help to support the respiratory tract as well as enhance the pathogen-fighting effects of immune cells. Similarly, the probiotics content helps to regulate inflammation and support gut health by combating the harmful bacteria and versus in your body. 

Besides, the protein and calcium component helps to fulfill a certain percentage of the recommended daily value. This further induces the nutrients in the body and helps your immune system to be more healthy and strong. 

Side Effects Of Cheese

Here are main things that might happen to your body from the consumption of cheese:

1. Constipation

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Cheese is high in fat and low in fiber. The low fiber content leads to constipation when consumed excessively. It's because lack of dietary fiber makes the stool hard and dry, and difficult to pass through.

Similarly, when high-fat food is consumed the digestion process gets low. This further contributes to dry stool. Besides that, cheese has a low water proportion causing dehydration. 

All of these eventually cause the lack of soft stool making the pass-through process uncomfortable and causing constipation. 

2. Inflammation

Cheese is high in a saturated fat component. This component induces the generation of pro-inflammatory molecules which increases the risk of irritation and swelling in cells. Similarly, a kind of protein called casein might not do good to people who are allergic to dairy products causing rashes and irritation.

Some cheeses that are high in sodium content also pose the risk of inflammation in the body.  To avoid these issues, it's good to have limited consumption of cheese with low in sodium. 

3. Heartburn

Dairy products that are rich in high fat cause heartburn problems. Cheese is one of those dairy products. The high fat content slows down the digestion of consumed foods which causes the potential increment of acid reflux. The acid is not good for the stomach.

The indigestion causes the lower esophageal sphincter to relax which leads to the escape of acid into the esophagus and causes heartburn.  

4. Skin Breakouts

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The breakouts in the skin may happen primarily due to the eating of high-fat dairy products. The content of unhealthy fat in cheese increases the oil production in blood vessels causing the blood to be unhealthy. When blood is not in a good state its impact starts to appear on skin. This triggers the acne and pimples on your face as well as other skin parts in your body. 

Besides that, dairy products like cheese affect insulin levels and insulin-like growth factors. This also induces the production of oil and inflammation leading to skin breakouts. 

5. Diarrhea

Diarrhea happens when the stomach gets infected by external bacteria that enter your body through foods. Cheese is one of the products that causes diarrhea if your body doesn't tolerate lactose or is allergic to dairy products.

The involvement of high-fat content in cheese upsets the stomach as it takes more time to digest. Besides this, the lactose in cheese also is not digested easily when your body is lacking in lactase enzyme. As a result, It causes loose motion.

6. Dehydration

Dehydration occurs when your body doesn't get enough supply of water intake. Even if you drink plenty of water, your body might dehydrated due to the high fat and oils-based products you consume. Fatty oil products disturb the balance of fluids in the cells leads a lack of water content in your body. 

In the case of cheese, it has a significant amount of fat and protein. When it is consumed in heavy quantity this absorbs the liquidy fluids in the cells and makes you more thirsty. To prevent this situation, you should consider eating cheese in small quantities and taking sufficient amounts of liquid substances the fulfill the water intake. 

7. Excessive Weight Gain

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If cheese has become a part of your daily diet and consume it in larger amounts, then you're likely to gain excessive weight gain. It's because cheese is high in calories and fat content. The saturated fat is a kind of unhealthy fat that I found in many cheeses and it contributes to unhealthy weight gain. 

Additionally, cheese is high in calories that provide a higher level of energy to the body. If an intense workout is not followed then the energy is stored as fat in your different body parts. So, be cautious when consuming cheese. 

8. Allergic Reactions

People whose body is sensitive to dairy products can experience allergic reactions to cheese. It's because cheese has a kind of protein known as casein. When it's consumed the person may encounter symptoms such as swelling, abdominal pain, rashes, vomiting, or complications like anaphylaxis. considering these issues, it's best to avoid the consumption of cheese or any dairy products. Since prevention is better than cure. 

9. High Cholesterol

One of the reasons for increased cholesterol is due to the saturated fat in cheese. Since cheese is a dairy product and made from milk it contains a high amount of fat, when it is consumed leads to high cholesterol. 

here is how.  As you consume these in greater quantity, the saturated fat enters the body and it induces low-density lipoprotein (a bad cholesterol). The increase in LDL causes the formation of plaque in the arteries leading to higher cholesterol levels in blood vessels and affecting heart health. This is why you should be aware of these health issues and avoid the excess consumption of cheese. 

10. Bloated Stomach

The stomach boletes when there's a storage of gas in your gut. The forms when you consume dairy products with high lactose, and fat. The same issue occurs when you consume too much cheese in a day. Since cheese has high fat, when it's consumed the digestion process gets slowed making your tummy bloated.

Besides that, lactose in cheese is a kind of sugar. When people with low lactose intolerance enzymes consume it excessively, then the sugar doesn't get digested properly. As a result, this leads to gas formation and a bloated stomach. 

There's no question that cheese has various essential nutrients and provides several health benefits. However, the major thing that twists its benefits into side effects is its excess consumption. Yes, it's moderate intake is very crucial for good health.