An advertisem*nt was recently banned from the London underground as it featured an artisan cheese board, and was therefore deemed unhealthy, contravening TFL’s strict rules aimed at cutting obesity.
TFL is missing a trick. Cheese may be high in fat but it’s also a flavorsome nutritional goldmine. Most varieties are a great source of calcium (for bones, muscle contraction and nerve impulse transmission) and iodine (for thyroid function and metabolism).
The complex carbohydrates in cheese are broken down slowly in the gut, not stomach, for long-lasting energy and satiating protein (8g in 30g cheese). Cheeses also contain tryptophan which helps promote the production of melatonin for delicious (in more ways than one) sleep and serotonin for mood. Think cheese board before bed to make you doze off, not a blood-sugar-unbalancing, sleep-disrupting dessert.
Excluding cheese from your diet due to its saturated fat content could be shortsighted as saturated fat is required to make cholesterol hormones such as oestrogen, testosterone and progesterone which help boost your mood, bones, and fertility. Many key vitamins (K, A, D and E) are fat soluble, so saturated fat is essential for a balanced diet.
Diets low in saturated fat (which raises cholesterol) and some plant-only or plant-based diets, often high in cholesterol-reducing beta-glucans and fibre, can contribute to depression, anxiety, osteoporosis, and infertility. This is because too little cholesterol results in lower vitamin D (needed for bones and mood) and fertility hormone production.
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The current obsession with gut microbiota-boosting foods focuses on prebiotic fibre such psyllium husk or probiotic fermented foods – promoted by famous scientists such as Professor Tim Spector – including kimchi, kefir, sauerkraut, kombucha and probiotic yoghurts or expensive supplements. They often overlook a great, versatile, relatively inexpensive, highly delicious, fermented probiotic food – cheese.
Of course, when it comes to nutrition and health, there’s no universal “good or bad for you.” Health is individual as we each have our own biology, but which cheeses have the most health aiding capacity, and why?
Soft and medium cheeses
Soft creamy cheeses such as mozzarella, burrata, brie, camembert, feta, goat’s cheese and cream cheese and medium cheeses such as gouda, cheddar, wensleydale, provolone and muenster, are loaded with calcium (especially in the rind).
They are easier to digest as they are high in many subspecies of bacteria including Lactobacillus – the ones we often see on the back of expensive supplements – like Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus paracasei.
Cheese is often perceived as unhealthy as it is seen to be bad for the heart. This is because too much saturated fat and cholesterol can cause atherosclerosis, a condition where plaques form in blood vessels which can cause thrombosis (blood clots), atheromas (burst blood vessels), heart attacks and strokes.
However, a 2020 metanalysis study of RCT (the gold standard of scientific evidence) by Zhang et al (1), found that regular probiotic cheese consumption was associated with a 13 percent reduction in risk of cardiovascular disease. As with anything it is about balance: both too much and too little saturated fat is unhealthy. Cheese can be part of a healthy heart diet if not consumed in excess.
Hard cheese and blue cheese
Hard cheeses include aged cheddar, parmesan, gruyere, comte, edam, and others. Blue cheeses include stilton, gorgonzola, and roquefort. One-third of the population is lactose intolerant and may avoid cheese for that reason – and yet there are many great low-lactose cheeses. The more aged and harder the cheese, the lower the lactose content.
Cheese primes the gut microbes and immune system, helping your gut become less sensitive to lactose (desensitisation). Intolerance is often caused by a lack of lactase enzyme that breaks down lactose. Yet the less dairy and cheese you eat, the more intolerant you will become to it as it becomes more foreign to your immune and digestive system – creating a more widespread inflammatory response.
Those with dairy intolerance could try to have cheese with lactase enzyme supplements (check with your GP) and try to consume as many anti-inflammatory foods as possible (vitamin C/ E/ selenium/ zinc/omega3 /magnesium dense foods) to reduce symptoms.
Processed and ultra-processed cheese
All cheese is processed naturally when it ferments, but ultra-processed cheese is made with natural cheese and other ingredients such as sugar, salt, anti-caking agents, stabilisers, preservatives, and additives, to increase the shelf life of the cheese. These ultraprocessed cheeses can cause more widespread inflammation and disrupt the gut microbiome. They also tend to have less flavour.
Check the ingredients on the packet to see what you’re getting – the best cheese will only contain milk mixed with acid or rennet enzyme which makes the proteins in the cheese lump together to make curd. Salt, herbs, horseradish, wines and vegetables can also be added to add flavour.
Magnificent mould
When cheese gets a bit mouldy (within reason), we often throw it away thinking it’s bad for us, but we could be throwing away the equivalent of probiotic supplements. Some moulds, such as myocobacterium (red and black moulds) can cause food poisoning, but these are easy to identify by their look and smell.
Blue moulds, such as in stilton cheese, contain penicillin, so should be avoided for those with penicillin allergy. However, most moulds in cheese are either part of the manufacturing process, are probiotic or can be cut away and the rest of the cheese consumed (especially in hard cheeses such as cheddar or parmesan). With food waste contributing to 30 per cent of carbon emissions, millions of tonnes of highly delicious, probiotic, health-giving cheese is wrongly and mistakenly thrown away each year.
The rind is also often wasted and it’s the part of the cheese highest in concentrated calcium for bones (great for women post-menopause, when oestrogen levels fall, weakening bones). Add herbs such as paprika, sage, thyme, basil, or oregano like an epicurean to boost polyphenols, vitamins, and flavour and save the planet and your health. Don’t waste your cheese or forget its probiotic benefits.
