This is the healthiest cheese you can eat — and it has surprising benefits

Meals & Drink

By Brooke Steinberg

Pizza might be heart-healthier than you assume.

Everybody loves cheese, however many have a tendency to chop it out of their diets as a result of excessive ranges of saturated fats and sodium.

“Some meals, similar to these excessive in saturated fats and sodium, can improve somebody’s threat of heart problems,” Dr. Cheng-Han Chen, a board-certified interventional heart specialist and medical director of the Structural Coronary heart Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Middle, informed Parade. “Conversely, a plant-based, high-fiber and low-saturated fats weight-reduction plan will be helpful for coronary heart well being.”

However there’s nonetheless excellent news for cheese lovers. “Cheese will be a part of a heart-healthy weight-reduction plan,” Chen reassured, including that there are issues to look out for when consuming cheese as a part of a heart-healthy weight-reduction plan.

The cheese you select shouldn’t be “too excessive in saturated fats and sodium, and [eaten] sparsely.”

That stated, Chen chooses mozzarella cheese as among the best for coronary heart well being.

“It’s an excellent supply of protein and calcium, and even incorporates probiotics that may profit intestine and immune well being,” he defined. “Contemporary mozzarella can be decrease in saturated fats and sodium than different cheeses.”

In keeping with the US Division of Agriculture, one ounce of mozzarella cheese incorporates 6.29 grams of protein, 143 miligrams of calcium, 138mg of sodium and three.94g of saturated fat.

As a result of mozzarella is decrease in sodium and saturated fats, it’s a greater choice than different cheeses, Chen stated. It’s additionally excessive in protein and promotes good bone well being with its calcium content material.

Nonetheless, sodium content material can range amongst mozzarellas, so make sure to verify the diet label earlier than including it to your cart.

“It’s a good suggestion to keep away from mozzarella cheeses with an excessive amount of sodium, as this will improve blood stress, amongst different results,” Chen stated.

When specializing in coronary heart well being, one ought to keep away from, or at the very least reduce, consumption of closely processed and manufactured cheeses — like American cheese.

“These are usually very excessive in saturated fats and sodium,” he defined.

One slide of American cheese incorporates 256mg, based on the USDA.

And although it might be excessive in protein, you may get that protein elsewhere.

“The protein in cheese will be present in lean meat, whereas the calcium will be present in meals similar to yogurt, beans and leafy greens,” Chen suggested.

Relating to coronary heart well being, Chen advised choosing meals which can be excessive in fiber, low in saturated fats and low in sodium.

“Typically, the extra processed a meals is, the much less wholesome it’s prone to be,” he stated.