Nutritional Article About Cheese Essay

Submitted By AlyElizabeth1
Words: 601
Pages: 3

Make room for Cheese! The media article I chose to write about is called Make Room For Cheese- If Incorporated Wisely, It Can Be Part of a Healthful Diet, written by Diane Welland. I chose to write about this article because I love cheese and can eat with almost anything like most Americans do. Cheese can be healthful and provide Calcium if consumed adequately. However, it can at times, if consumed in high amounts, be detrimental to our daily diets. That is why this article explains to us the right portions of different types of cheeses we can consume. Cheese contains a good source of protein, is high in Calcium, and sodium as well. It is especially helpful for vegetarians so that they can meet their protein goal in order to be healthy. Unfortunately, here in America, we have a tendency to consume cheese in high amounts. A study showed that the cheese consumption in the U.S. in 2009 was 33 lbs. per capita which has tripled since 1970. And since it is high in calories and saturated fats, it can perhaps be more harmful to out bodies if consumed too much on a daily basis. Sodium in cheese comes from two places, which is the one that naturally presents itself in milk or the salt added during the cheese-making process. If people are concerned about the amount of sodium in their cheeses then they should know that some contain more sodium than others. For example, feta cheese has 317 mg of sodium per ounce while Swiss cheese only has 54 mg of sodium per ounce. Most natural cheeses range about 100 to 200 mg of sodium per ounce. Processed cheeses on the other hand contain about 350 to 450 mg of sodium per ounce. Whole milk cheese contains 6 to 10 grams of fat per 1 ounce serving and more than one of those grams is saturated. Katherine Tallmadge, MA, RD, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson says that, “If you’re aiming for 10 to 20 g of saturated fat a day, which represents 7% of total calories, depending on a person’s individualized calorie needs, eating cheese can be challenging when 1 ounce has about 6 grams of saturated fat. Even some of the lower-fat cheeses aren’t really that low.” High levels of fat unfortunately, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. A report made by