Cheese is one of the polarizing foods that people either love or hate, but with so many types of cheeses out there it is no wonder that some enthusiasts try to insist that you have just not tried the correct one. It is an easy food to have accompany a meal, as it contains proteins and natural fats that are usually healthy and can be beneficial for us and out gut, but there is one type of cheese that, although it may be tasty, it is not good for us and should not be consumed or be consumed in extreme moderation, and that is ultra processed cheese.
Cheeses produced with natural methods have a certain amount of salts and unhealthy fats, but any of their negative qualities are usually overridden by the benefits that come from consuming cheese, but the processed kind contains an enormous amount of sodium that is a known risk for your health, especially cardiovascular problems.
Ultra processed Cheese, the risk to our health that cannot be ignored
While one might argue that all cheese is processed, the concept refers to the industrial mix, sometimes called a “technical blend” that can be purchased as convenient slices or tubs of spreadable cheese. These are a cocktail of ingredients like hydrogenated fats, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and tons of salt that have been created to improve texture, flavor, and shelf stability with little regard for how they affect consumer’s health.
While traditional cheese has a very limited amount of ingredients, milk, salt, and rennet, these industrial processed blends can fill out a page with the amount of extras that they contain, and these extras are not great for you. Just as a baseline, processed cheese has significantly more sodium and saturated fats than its natural counterparts. Compared to natural cheese, processed versions can contain up to 70% more sodium and 40% more saturated fat. They also tend to have lower levels of essential nutrients like calcium and protein.
But the great problem nowadays is with the sodium increase that these processed cheeses have and their effects on your health, as just one slice or serving of processed cheese can deliver about one-third of the daily salt limit recommended for good health. That is around 400 to 600 milligrams in one go and regularly eating foods with this much sodium increases the risk of conditions like high blood pressure, heart attacks, and atherosclerosis.
Most experts have repeatedly recommended limiting or cutting out these products altogether but many consumers are reticent to do so, as they taste good and can be quite addictive. Aside from the salt and fats, processed cheeses often include added sugars, phosphates, which can alter your body’s mineral balance, as well as artificial flavor enhancers. All these keep manufacturing costs low and profits up, but have a lot of unintended consequences that we are still exploring.
This does not mean that you should stop eating cheese, natural cheese can still be part of a healthy diet, but you have to know what you are looking for. Natural options like mozzarella, feta, goat cheese, and aged hard cheeses do not contain synthetic additives or added fats and they are made from real milk and are good sources of protein, calcium, and vitamin B12. Checking the salt content on the label is also important, and a good rule of thumb is to stick with cheeses that have no more than 1.5 grams of salt per 100 grams.
Having said that, the key is always and will always be to consume cheese in moderation, not eating portions bigger than 30 to 40 grams a day.