Health Benefits of Cheese
With nearly 2,000 types of cheese available worldwide, it’s no wonder that the average American consumes about 40 pounds of cheese per year (about 1.5 ounces per day). Cheese, however, is more than just a delicious part of our favorite meals and snacks – cheese makes significant contributions to a healthy diet.
Cheese is a good source of high-quality protein and contributes other essential nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A to the U.S. diet. Cheese is the second leading food source of dietary calcium in the U.S. diet (after milk) for Americans 2 years and older. Cheese calories range depending on the type and fat content, but a 1 oz serving of cheese contains around 100 calories.
The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recognizes that dairy foods, including cheese, play an important role in healthy eating patterns from infancy through adulthood. Healthy eating patterns that include dairy foods are associated with reduced risk for several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). In addition, dairy foods provide calcium and protein, which are particularly important for accruing peak bone mass in early adulthood.
Dairy foods help people thrive across the lifespan – including the earliest stages. The DGA recommends providing small amounts of cheese and yogurt as complementary foods to infants beginning around 6 months of age, depending on developmental readiness.
The DGA recommends 3 servings per day of dairy, including full-fat dairy, as part of a 2,000-calorie dietary pattern, adjusting as needed based on your individual caloric requirements.
Salt is a vital part of the cheese-making process, as it controls moisture, texture, taste, functionality, and food safety — salt cannot be completely eliminated and some cheeses require less than others. Some cheeses like Swiss and ricotta cheese tend to be made with less sodium and are naturally low-sodium choices. Ninety-two percent of sodium in the U.S. diet comes from sources other than cheese.
If you are lactose intolerant, cheese can still be a part of your diet. Natural and aged cheeses such as Cheddar, Colby, Monterey Jack, mozzarella, Parmesan and Swiss contain minimal amounts of lactose, because most of the lactose is removed when the curds are separated from the whey in the cheese making process. The minimal lactose left in the curd breaks down considerably as the cheese ages.
What Does the Research Say?
Research suggests that full fat dairy foods can fit within healthy eating patterns. Additionally, the DGA recommends limiting intake of saturated fat to no more than 10% of calories per day, so full-fat dairy foods, like cheese, can fit into a healthy eating pattern within saturated fat intake limits.
While cheese is a food high in sodium and saturated fat, cheese also has a unique food matrix that provides 8 essential nutrients and an array of bioactive compounds that may work together to benefit cardiovascular health.
A 2023 umbrella review reported beneficial to neutral associations between cheese consumption and health. Cheese intake was linked to beneficial cardiovascular outcomes including reduced risk of CVD, CHD and stroke. There was no relationship between cheese consumption and blood pressure. Researchers found these health benefits were observed with daily consumption of ~1 to 1.5 ounces of cheese – equivalent to 1 to 1.5 dairy food servings per the DGA.
The health benefits of cheese may be linked to the cheese matrix, or unique physical structure of cheese. More research is needed to understand the dairy matrix and its promising impact on health.
