Why do nutrition experts recommend you to eat this kind of food with "high calorie content"?

Cheese, cheese, yogurt... these foods you have eaten or heard of actually have a common name - cheese.

As an indispensable ingredient on Western tables, the history of cheese can even be traced back to six or seven thousand years ago.

Today, there are thousands of cheese varieties in the world. Cheeses from different origins, varieties, and processes have unique textures and flavors.

What is the nutritional value of cheese?

Cheese is called "milk gold" and it takes about 10 kilograms of milk to make 1 kilogram of cheese.

Adding an appropriate amount of lactic acid bacteria starter and rennet to the milk will coagulate the casein. After removing the whey, it will become cheese after a period of fermentation and maturation.

Higher in protein and calcium

As a product of "concentrated" milk, the protein and calcium concentration in cheese is much higher than the same amount of milk.

According to the "Chinese Food Composition Table", the content of protein, vitamin B2 and calcium in cheese is 7.8 times, 7.6 times and 7.5 times that of milk respectively.

More suitable for people with lactose intolerance

Under the fermentation of lactic acid bacteria, most of the lactose in milk is broken down into glucose and galactose, so cheese is very suitable for people with lactose intolerance, and the protein in it is also easier for the human body to digest and absorb.

Helps control blood sugar levels

Catherine Chen, a nutrition expert at the University of Alberta in Canada, and her team found that both low-fat cheese and regular cheese can increase insulin sensitivity and improve insulin action.

In addition, cheese normalizes phospholipids in the body, which are derived from dietary fat and are essential for many functions of the body. This makes cheese useful in the fight against cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

How to choose different cheeses?

There are many types of cheese on the market, which can be classified according to the water content (i.e. the hardness of the cheese) into soft, semi-hard, hard and extra-hard cheese.

Hard cheese can be eaten in bread, while soft cheese can be used to make desserts, etc. According to the processing technology, it can be divided into natural cheese and processed cheese.

Natural cheese preferred

Natural cheese is made from milk by fermenting curd and draining whey. Its ingredients list generally only includes four raw materials: pasteurized milk, lactic acid bacteria, rennet and edible salt.

In addition to cheese, processed cheese also contains ingredients such as butter and white sugar. Therefore, consumers should choose natural cheese because it is high in calcium and has few additives.

How to identify natural cheese?

See product type

The easiest way is to look directly at the "product type" on the packaging. Some will directly indicate on the packaging whether it is "processed cheese" or "natural cheese/original cheese".

Read food labels

If the product type is not clearly marked, you can identify it by looking at the ingredient list. If the first ingredient on the ingredient list is cow's milk, goat's milk, pasteurized milk, and the ingredient list is relatively short, it is mostly natural cheese.

The first ones are cottage cheese/cheese and water, and those with more complicated ingredient lists are generally processed cheese.

Check the ingredient list first when making processed cheese

By changing the process and the ratio of raw materials, processed cheese with different flavors or functional properties can be produced. The product has rich taste, low cost and long shelf life. Therefore, it is becoming more and more popular and accounts for a high share of the market.

When buying processed cheese, read the food label carefully. The higher the cheese is listed in the ingredients list, the better. Cheese with higher protein and calcium content and less fat in the nutrition facts list is healthier.

In addition, it is best to choose cheese that is lower in sodium and sugar.

Nutrition experts teach you how to eat cheese

There are many ways to eat cheese, whether it is eaten directly, seasoned, or baked. Nutrition experts remind you that you need to pay attention to the following points to eat cheese healthily.

Take with milk

Cheese can be part of your daily diet, replacing some dairy products to increase dietary diversity.

It is recommended to eat about 10 grams of cheese every day, with 200 ml of milk or yogurt. This can not only meet the supply of protein and calcium, but also help control the intake of salt and calories.

Control your intake

In addition to nutrients, cheese also contains fat and calories, which are 6.5 times and 4 times that of milk respectively, and the salt content is very high, nearly 10 times that of milk.

Therefore, you should eat cheese in moderation. If you do not drink milk on that day, you can eat 25 to 50 grams of cheese. If you have already consumed enough milk or dairy products, it is best not to eat cheese to avoid increasing energy intake.

Many children's cheese sticks on the market add sugar to improve the taste, or add extra salt to help the cheese form and retain moisture. Some products add coloring to improve the appearance.

When purchasing, parents should try to choose cheese sticks with cheese as the first ingredient, high protein content per weight, less added sugar, more calcium and less salt.