Such a delicious dairy product as cheese is loved by everyone around. There are thousands of its types, hundreds of recipes. Is cheese healthy? Whatever it is: melted, rennet, soft, hard, moldy, suluguni, with additives, it is useful for the human body.

Useful properties of cheese

High-quality cheeses are beneficial for the body, because they contain a lot of useful elements. When preparing cream cheeses from milk, they “absorb” its most beneficial properties. The benefit of cheese is that it is rich in minerals and proteins, which are especially important for children and pregnant women.

Cheese

Nutrients of cheese:

• Vitamin A;
• Vitamin PP;
• B vitamins (cobalamins, thiamine, pyridoxine, riboflavin, folic acid);
• Vitamin C;
• Vitamin E (TE);
• Vitamin PP;

Macronutrients:

• Phosphorus;
• Calcium;
• Potassium;
• Sodium;
• Magnesium;

Microelements:

• Manganese;
• Zinc;
• Iron;
• Copper.

Is blue cheese healthy?

Blue cheese is called "brie". It is classified as a soft table cheese. Brie is made from cow's milk. It contains many beneficial bacteria that improve digestive activity and prevent the development of caries. Among other things, blue cheese is rich in useful minerals, vitamins B, A and D. Noble mold has a beneficial effect on the skin, protecting it from the aging effects of ultraviolet radiation. It is recommended to eat blue cheese little by little, because overuse of this product can cause dysbacteriosis.

Another type of specific blue cheese is called “dor blue”. This semi-hard cheese also contains a noble mold that improves digestion. This product is indicated for rapid restoration of strength, strengthening the immune system, it is recommended in the postoperative period and for cancer.

Is processed cheese healthy?

Processed cheese is 100% absorbed by the body, which cannot be said about hard varieties of cheese. This cheese contains practically no carbohydrates, a lot of vitamin B, and phosphorus compounds. The fats contained in processed cheese supply the body with vitamins E, D, A. However, soft processed cheese contains a lot of sodium compounds, which is harmful under severe pressure changes. They often contain completely unhealthful food additives, so it is better for allergy sufferers, as well as people with kidney problems or high acidity of gastric juices, to avoid this cheese. Processed cheese is very high in calories.

Be careful when choosing such cheese in a store, because manufacturers offer surrogate cheese analogues under its guise. Good cheese should not contain palm or rapeseed oil.

Buy processed cheese only in packaging marked “PP” (polypropylene containers), but in no case “PS” (polystyrene containers) - it is prohibited for storing food.

Is Adyghe cheese healthy?

This delicate cheese with a pronounced yogurt taste is rich in essential amino acids, B vitamins, calcium and phosphorus. Adyghe cheese is especially useful for children and the elderly, pregnant and lactating women.

If you have fragile bones, or suffer from osteoporosis or tuberculosis, then you should definitely include Adyghe cheese in your diet.

This is a low-fat and low-calorie product with a low salt content, which makes it accessible for consumption by heart patients, hypertensive patients, people with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, and those who are overweight.

Is braided cheese healthy?

Suluguni or pigtail cheese is a type of pickled cheese. Traditionally it is made from goat, sheep, buffalo or cow's milk.

Its salinity is moderate. Cheese containing complete protein is very useful. It is rich in vitamins, amino acids, mineral salts, therefore it is useful for everyone, especially children and weakened patients (who have suffered fractures and pulmonary tuberculosis), pregnant and lactating women, and the elderly.

The proportion of fat in it is 40-50%. There are also smoked types of suluguni braided cheese, which have contraindications for those suffering from cardiac and renal edema, peptic ulcers, and gastritis.

Cheese is contraindicated:

• Overweight people;
• Hypertensive patients;
• If you have milk protein intolerance;
• For colitis and gastritis;
• Patients with peptic ulcers;
• For kidney diseases;
• Suffering from migraines and insomnia.
• Blue cheese is contraindicated for pregnant women.

How much cheese can you eat per day?

2-3 slices of 30 grams of cheese with a fat content of less than 20% is enough.

How to choose cheese

The cut of low-quality cheese is loose and uneven.

The cheese should not be very bitter. This indicates an incorrect preparation technology, the addition of calcium chloride to the product to improve milk coagulation, or the feeding of the animals from whose milk the cheese is made with bitter types of feed.

The cheese should not have a musty smell.

Do not buy cheese that has droplets of moisture, a dry rind, or slight mold visible on the surface.

It is better to choose cheeses with a short shelf life that do not contain preservatives.

How to store cheese

Cheese is a perishable product. Its soft varieties cannot be stored in the refrigerator for more than 2-3 days, and hard varieties - for more than 7-10 days.

You should not leave cheese open next to other strong-smelling foods, because it is an absorbent. Wrap the cheese in paper or tracing paper, and then in a plastic bag or special container.

Cheese stored in the freezer is only suitable for use in oven-baked dishes.

If you notice a moldy crust on the surface of the cheese, don’t worry! Carefully cut it off and use the cheese in a salad or other dish.

Recipes for healthy dishes with cheese

Cheese and avocado snack

1. Grate 100 grams of cheese on a coarse grater.
2. Add to it 50 grams of mayonnaise, 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic.
3. Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit.
4. Using a teaspoon, scoop out the avocado pulp, chop it and also mix with the cheese mixture. Place the resulting snack in a boat.
5. Decorate the finished dish with herbs or nuts.

Cheese-rice cutlets with mushrooms

1. Finely chop the onion and greens.
2. Grate 150 grams of cheese.
3. Sauté the onion in oil with 200 grams of champignons.
4. Boil 1 cup of rice.
5. Beat 2 eggs.
6. Combine all the ingredients, add salt and pepper and let it brew.
7. We begin to form cutlets and dip them in breadcrumbs. Fry until golden brown.
8. You can serve the finished cutlets with herbs, potatoes, vegetables or any other side dish.

From this article you learned the benefits and harms of cheese. Bon appetit!

We all love cheese, because it is tasty, healthy and quite accessible to everyone. As a rule, this milk processing product is found in our diet almost every day. Do we always think about the benefits and harms of cheese, in what cases should this product be limited in the diet, and in what quantities can it be consumed daily without harm to health?

What are the benefits of cheese?

• This is a good source of complete protein - a building material for the cells of our body (contains essential amino acids, including a large amount of tryptophan, necessary for normal brain function, combating stress and depression)
• Vitamins (fat-soluble - A, E, D, water-soluble - C, PP, B1, B2, B12, pantothenic acid) ensure normal metabolism, help strengthen the immune system, cardiovascular and nervous system, maintain the normal condition of the skin
• A large number of macro- and microelements, and above all calcium and phosphorus, necessary for the normal functioning of the musculoskeletal system, brain and other organs and systems of the body
• Cheese is well and almost completely absorbed in the gastrointestinal tract, its calorie content is quite high (about 300 kcal per 100 g), which allows this product to be used to quickly replenish the body’s energy costs during increased physical activity, neuropsychic stress and severe mental overload, during the recovery period after illnesses.

Can cheese be harmful?

Yes, if you eat it in large doses every day for a long time.

• Cheese contains a fairly large amount of milk fat (up to 30-40%), which means saturated fatty acids and cholesterol, which increase the risk of developing atherosclerosis and related diseases. Hard cheese is also high in calories, which can lead to extra pounds. Therefore, for overweight people, as well as after 40 years of age, it is better to consume soft cheeses (for example, mozzarella) in small quantities, as well as cottage cheese (3-5%) or tofu soy cheese, 100 g of which contains only 76 kcal.

• Cheese, like other dairy products, can provoke the appearance of lesions in the mucous membrane of the nasopharynx, bronchi, conjunctiva of the eye, and skin.
• Milk casein is one of the possible “culprits” for mental development disorders in children and adults (including autism, mental retardation, etc.). True, these are only assumptions of individual scientists, based on a few data, often contradictory.
• Large amounts of calcium in hard cheese (up to 1000 mcg per 100 g) can also be harmful to health when consumed in large quantities (more than 200-300 g of cheese daily). With regular consumption of calcium in a dose of more than 2500-3000 mcg, symptoms of hypercalcemia may appear with dysfunction of the musculoskeletal and nervous systems (muscle pain, general weakness, fatigue, memory impairment, depression), digestive organs (erosions and ulcers, and pancreatitis, colitis), urinary tract (stone formation, renal failure, cardiovascular system (rhythm disturbances, hypertension), skin.
• Tryptophan, an essential amino acid contained in cheese in increased quantities and necessary for normal brain function, can cause drowsiness and also worsen well-being in the presence of certain congenital metabolic diseases. Animal studies have shown that insufficient tryptophan intake increases mortality in young people and at the same time increases overall life expectancy.
• Tyramine, a biogenic amine contained in cheese, can provoke the development of headaches of different types and is incompatible when used simultaneously with some antidepressants.
• In recent years, a number of studies have been conducted that indicate an increased risk of developing malignant tumors (bladder cancer, prostate cancer in men, and ovarian tumors in women) with excessive consumption of cheese. It is assumed that the harm is caused primarily by casein and calcium, contained in large quantities in cheese.

How much cheese can you eat without harming your health?

As already mentioned in the article, cheese is a product of milk processing, so the possible harm to health (regarding casein and calcium) will be added up when consuming other dairy products (whole milk, kefir, cottage cheese, etc.).

So how much cheese can you eat for health benefits? If we consider the safe content of casein and calcium, then daily without harm you can consume 30-50 g of hard cheese or 100-150 g of cottage cheese or 400-500 g of whole milk, kefir or yogurt. That is, if you ate 50 g of hard cheese today, then you have already fulfilled your daily dose of dairy products.
Research conducted into the risk of cheese increasing the risk of bladder cancer suggests that a safe daily intake of cheese would be 50 grams (maximum 53 g).

These are the pies (in the sense of pizza)... I would like to note that ongoing research often contradicts each other, so they cannot be taken as an immutable truth. Only one thing is clear: everything needs moderation. A varied diet, which periodically contains all healthy foods in moderate quantities (meat and fish, cottage cheese and cheese, cereals and pasta, vegetables and fruits, berries and nuts...), will only benefit us. And the data presented in the article can warn the most fanatical cheese lovers who consume this product at 300-500 g per day for a long time.

Those who believe that calcium is necessary only for a growing body are mistaken. And that only children, pregnant and lactating women are the main consumers of dairy products.

After all, calcium is not only a building material for bone and dental tissue. In order to have a slim, toned figure, working out in the gym is not enough - calcium is needed for muscle contraction.

We all want to stay young, energetic, and have an impeccable appearance longer, and for this we need to provide oxygen to every cell of the body. A healthy heart and blood vessels will help with this, but they also need calcium.

The merits of calcium include royal posture and graceful gait. It is vital for our body for the nervous system, for blood clotting, the synthesis of many substances, hormones, for the normal functioning of the gastrointestinal tract

Who needs to monitor calcium levels first?

Of course, children, pregnant and lactating women. The health of a child is established in the womb, and in the first year of life the child triples his body weight and grows by 50%. Imagine how much calcium we would need to grow 25 cm.

Calcium levels should also be monitored by people who:

• convulsions occur frequently
• interruptions in heart function, increased or decreased blood pressure (calcium is necessary for the functioning of the cardiovascular system),
• constipation or diarrhea (with calcium deficiency, intestinal contractions are impaired),
• the level of thyroid hormones is increased (at the same time, calcium is washed out of the bones, the functioning of all organs and systems is disrupted),
• increased bleeding gums,
• peptic ulcer - be especially careful here, in this case elevated calcium levels increase the secretion of gastric juice and cause an exacerbation of the disease,
• kidney and urinary tract stones (remember, excess calcium is excreted from the body by the kidneys).

The daily requirement for calcium depends on age:

How to avoid calcium deficiency?

Everyone knows that calcium is not formed in the body, and we depend on it from food. The main supplier of digestible calcium is milk and dairy products. Therefore, milk, cottage cheese or curd desserts, yogurt, kefir, and sour cream must be present in our diet.

And you don’t need to eat tons of them at all.

For an adult, this is approximately 1 liter of milk per day or 0.5 kg of cottage cheese, or 150 grams of hard cheese. However, it will be pleasant and correct to eat three dairy products every day, but you need to do this constantly, and not occasionally. What products will these be? - Choose for yourself.

Remember!!!

Three dairy products will provide you with 80% of your daily calcium requirement, with the remaining 20% ​​coming from other foods.

For the convenience of determining the amount of calcium in your daily diet, refer to the table data.

Milk - 120 mg	Cottage cheese -260 mg
Yogurt without sugar - 200 mg	Kefir - 120 mg
Yogurt with fruits and berries - 136 mg	Hard cheese - 600 mg
Sour cream -86 mg	Curd desserts -150 mg

Often pregnant and lactating women complain about the destruction of tooth enamel and bone pain, although they consume foods rich in calcium every day. Why might this be? Think about how we eat these foods.

You should know that fats, sugar, and the consumption of phosphorus-containing foods, including carbonated drinks rich in phosphates, disrupt the absorption of calcium and lead to its removal from the body.

Foods rich in calcium can be eaten without restrictions. Its excess simply will not enter the body and will be excreted in the feces.

Now let’s learn how to independently determine whether we are getting enough calcium. To do this, you need to fill out Table 3.

Table 3

Products (in grams)	Day I	II day	III day	IV day	V day	Sum	Multiply and add results in rows
Milk or kefir
Cottage cheese or curd dessert
Bread, vegetables, fruits, cereals
Total calcium (mg) for 5 days

We divide the result by 5 and get the average daily calcium intake.

The result obtained is comparable to age-related norms for calcium requirements.

If the result is below normal, try to adjust your diet.

We should not forget that dairy products must be of high quality, without artificial fillers and preservatives!

You will learn a lot of new and interesting things about milk and dairy products here:

In fact, this effective cheese diet is a type of protein diet.

The dietary properties of cheese are determined by its composition. Cheese contains up to 27% protein, up to 50% fat (in dry matter), from 400 to 700 mg of mineral salts of calcium and phosphorus. This composition makes cheeses an important element in nutrition.

Cheese protein is a source of essential amino acids, including the most deficient ones, which are the main “building material” of the body. The most beneficial proteins for the body are those whose amino acid content is similar to that of human tissues and organs, and cheese protein generally meets these requirements. Moreover, it has the ability to enrich the amino acid composition of proteins in other foods. At the same time, cheese is among the top five food products in terms of protein content. And in the summer, when meat becomes a rather “heavy” product for the body, but protein reserves still need to be replenished, a cheese and vegetable diet would be an excellent solution.

8-00 - coffee without sugar (dry cream is possible);

10-00 - 1 boiled egg;

12-00 - 200 g of lean ham or meat;

14-00 - 100 g low-fat cheese;

16-00 - 250 g low-fat cottage cheese;

18-00 - a glass of low-fat kefir.

Choose low-fat dairy products. Cheese, for example, should be consumed with a fat content of no more than 10-12%.

Such a high-protein diet for 7-10 days will allow you to quickly lose excess weight, and, in addition, you will get used to eating food 5 times a day. And this is very important, it has been proven that when you eat often, but little by little, throughout the day, the body more successfully cleanses the blood of cholesterol and fat.

But, of course, a protein diet is not suitable for normalizing cholesterol levels and fat metabolism in general. Therefore, after completing the protein unloading, we recommend that you switch to a fractional diet, which will not only normalize cholesterol levels, but will also help you not gain back the kilograms you lost on the protein diet.
Your daily menu will look like this:

Breakfast: High-protein muffin, low-fat cream cheese, and a glass of orange juice.

Lunch: a piece of bread spread with peanut butter (a teaspoon) and one banana;

Lunch: chicken or fish (85 g), boiled broccoli, a small portion of spaghetti with tomato sauce, salad; or a bowl of soup, pita with cheese or turkey and lettuce, tomatoes and Brussels sprouts.

Afternoon snack: a few carrots and a dozen whole grain crackers with sauce.

Dinner: a glass of low-fat yogurt and fresh fruit (1-2 pcs.)

Cheese and wine. Tips for choosing wine?

Recommendations on proper nutrition are often vague: the call to eat “more vegetables” and “less sugar” causes confusion for many, because if for one person “a lot of sugar” means two teaspoons, then for another the syrup is “sourish.” When planning your diet, you should proceed from your needs and preferences, and as a more specific guideline, you can rely on objective daily and weekly food standards calculated for an average-weight adult.

Meat: 170 g per day

The daily norm for an adult of average weight and age - 170 g of meat per day - includes both poultry and meat. It is highly desirable that half of this norm be poultry, in which case the intake of cholesterol into the body will be optimal. The fact that this norm is daily does not mean that you should definitely eat this amount of meat every day: you can eat it, for example, 4 times a week - 250 g.

Fish: 300 g per week

Optimal – 3 times a week, 100 g or 2 times a week, 150 g. Since fatty fish (salmon, trout, tuna, mackerel, herring, etc.) contain very healthy omega-3 fatty acids, nutritionists It is recommended to include the consumption of these types of fish in the specified norm. Also included in the norm are all seafood - shrimp, mussels, squid, etc. Try to eat a varied diet!

Vegetables: 300-400 g per day

This norm is a minimum per day; if you eat more, it will only be for the better. The principle of diversity in relation to vegetables is realized in the fact that it is very desirable to include both cooked (stewed, boiled, fried, in soups) vegetables and fresh, raw (in salads) in the daily diet. Make sure that this norm is not completely covered by starchy, hearty vegetables (potatoes, beans, beans, peas).

Fruits: 200-300 g per day

As with vegetables, this is the minimum; It's good if you eat even more fruit. Besides, 200-300g is just a large apple, a couple of peaches or a full cup of berries, which is not that much. When we talk about fruits, we mean fresh fruits, since fruits made from jam or compotes no longer have an impressive range of beneficial properties. But fresh and recently prepared fruits also count (peaches in pies, scalded pears in fruit salad, or oven-baked apples).

Cereals: 6-8 servings per day

Grain products include all cereals, as well as bread and pasta. It is highly advisable to consume as much as possible (from unprocessed grains). To get an idea of ​​the portions, it is worth considering that one serving of grains is half a cup of ready-made porridge or pasta, a slice of bread 50-75 g. That is, the daily norm of 8 servings is a large plate of porridge, pasta (up to 4 cups of ready-made food) or 350-450 g of bread. It will be healthier for the body if you eat all types of grains - but little by little: for example, 200 g of bread + a small plate of porridge.

Bread: 200-250 g per day

Despite the fact that bread belongs to grain products, it should be placed in a separate group, since this is exactly how people themselves perceive it - separately, as an independent product - when they consume it. The norm of 200-250 g should include both white and black, and it is highly desirable that there is a place in this list for whole grain bread (with bran). With a balanced diet, the daily norm will look something like this: one small white bun (80-100 g) and 100 g of black grain bread.

Fats: 1-1.3 g/kg per day

The daily fat intake is 1-1.3 g per kg of your weight per day. That is, if you weigh 80 kg, your norm is 80-90 g of fat. Important: this norm includes all fat consumed per day, including from ready-made meals. Therefore, when calculating the amount of fat consumed in its pure form (vegetable oil, butter), you must keep in mind that this is not the only fat you consumed. You also need to ensure that the daily diet contains both animal and vegetable fat, and the share of unsaturated fats (vegetable) is at least 50% of the total.

Sugar: 9 (6) teaspoons per day

The consumption rate is 9 teaspoons (for men) and 6 teaspoons (for women) per day. The norm includes not only visible sugar (what you, for example, put in tea, added when baking a pie, or consumed as candy), but also hidden sugar - sugar from dishes. Sugar is present in an overwhelming number of dishes (yogurt, baked goods, bread, cereals, cottage cheese products, sweets, dried fruits, etc.), so if you are not going to count every grain of sugar in your diet, try to cut your sugar intake by 2- 3 times. Having consumed 2-3 spoons of sugar, you will know that you got the rest with ready-made dishes.

Salt: 5 g per day

The daily dose is 1 teaspoon (5 g). The norm includes both “live” salt in your soup or salad, and hidden salt in marinades, herring, chips, bread, sausage, etc.

Coffee: 300 mg caffeine per day

The appropriate amount depends on the powder used, the concentration, strength and type of coffee, but on average 300 mg of caffeine is contained in 300-400 ml of ready-made moderate-strength coffee brewed from natural powder, or in 500-600 ml of a drink made from instant coffee .

Alcohol: 30 (20 for women) ml ethanol per day

When we talk about alcohol, we do not mean the “norm”, but the permissible dose of alcohol - the amount that does not cause serious harm to the body. The permissible dose is 20 ml of ethanol per day for women, 30 ml of ethanol per day for men. To calculate the volume of an alcoholic drink, it is enough to know the ethanol concentration and the strength of the drink. So, if you drink 10% wine, then the permissible dose will be 200 ml (average glass) of wine for a woman and 300 ml for a man.