Cheeses and calories

Lean, fat and semi-fat cheeses

The cheeses are among the favorite foods of the Italians that between pizzas, toasts and various snacks consume on average almost twenty kilos per year. The love for this food is such as to place Italy in fourth place in the world for per capita consumption, preceded only by Greece (27.5 kg), France (25.8 kg) and Germany (21.8 kg).

A fundamental characteristic of any self-respecting cheese is the high caloric intake due to the presence of many animal fats. For this reason, nutritionists often advise limiting their consumption, preferring preferably the lighter ones.

In reality all the cheeses contain a certain amount of fats since the aging, impoverishing them with water, concentrates the nutrients, including cholesterol. For this reason, fresh cheeses are poorer in nutrients than seasoned ones.

Cheeses with a lipid content of more than 40% are called fats, those with a lipid percentage between 20 and 40% are low fat and those in which fats represent less than 20% of total calories are lean.

The only "light" cheeses are milk flakes and ricotta, which however are not real cheeses, since they are produced from buttermilk or whey.

Cheese is also a sodium-rich food that is used in the production process to keep bacterial growth under control as it matures. An excess of this mineral in predisposed subjects can aggravate hypertension or contribute to its appearance.

The cheeses, the slices and the melted cheeses in general, beyond the high practicality, are sometimes enriched with polyphosphates that remove calcium from the body.

Despite the richness in fats, sodium and calories, cheese is a precious food as it is rich in important nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus, vitamin A and B12.

As always, the trick is to have a balanced relationship with food:

cheeses are healthy foodstuffs, just don't overdo their consumption.

For example it is a good rule not to exceed 50 grams of seasoned cheese per portion or associate it with other foods by using it more as a garnish than as a main dish.

Cheese Calories

CHEESE (50 g)	CALORIES	FATS (g)	CHOLESTEROL (mg)	SOCCER (mg)	SODIUM (mg)
Mozzarella cheese	132	10:10	36	242	175
Fontina	181	14:57	54	464	257
Parmigiano	183	12:08	31	554	749
Provolone	165	12:46	33	353	409
Ricotta cheese	81	6:07	23	97	40
Pecorino Romano	181	12.61	48	495	561
Brie	157	12.95	33	86	293
gruyere	193	15:13	51	473	157
Milk flakes (lean)	52	2.65	6.4	36.5	190