Why a cheese sandwich is (not) a good idea | To eat
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A cheese sandwich is a standard part of many people’s breakfast or lunch. But cheese contains a lot of saturated fat and salt. Bad for your health, you might think. Is that correct? And would it be better to put something else between the sandwich?
“Cheese indeed contains substances that have been shown to have a negative effect on your health if you were to eat it without anything,” says dairy expert Kasperg Hettinga of Wageningen University. “Consider the saturated fats and salt. But it also contains substances that have a positive influence on your health: proteins, minerals and vitamins.”
We should not only focus on the individual nutrients, but also look at how the cheese as a whole is broken down. In cheese, these substances do not exist separately, but are trapped together in a protein structure. “That structure ensures that you digest everything at approximately the same time, and that is also important for the influence that the substances have on your health,” Hettinga explains.
People who eat a lot of cheese are not necessarily unhealthier
Dairy expert Kasperg Hettinga
“During the digestion of cheese, the various nutrients – such as calcium and fats – are released at the same time. Some of the calcium attracts the saturated fats in the cheese, causing them to stick together. Once the calcium is attached to the fat, our body can no longer absorb that saturated fat, which you lose through your bowel movements. This way you get rid of some of the unhealthy fats from cheese,” Hettinga further explains. “And that is why the structure of cheese is so important. If you eat the fat now and the calcium hours later, you would absorb all the saturated fat into your body.”
Important effects on your health
In addition, it is also important to take the high salt content of cheese into account. “Suppose you eat two to three cheese sandwiches a day: that alone – apart from the bread – already contains about 1.7 grams of salt. That is 20 percent of the recommended maximum salt intake.”
On the other hand, the cheese on those same two to three sandwiches also contains about 50 micrograms of vitamin K. “Vitamin K plays an important role in the maintenance of healthy bones and in the clotting of your blood if you have a wound. Those 50 micrograms of vitamin K are about 70 percent of what your body needs. Cheese is therefore an important source of vitamin K.”
In addition, cheese is a fermented product. “During fermentation, bacteria are added that ensure that the milk sugars are converted into lactic acid. That is why milk, for example, is sweet and cheese is not.” The living bacteria in fermented products also affect your health. They provide more healthy bacteria in your intestines and help with digestion, making it easier to absorb vitamins and minerals.
All in all, cheese contains both healthy and unhealthy nutrients. “This means that cheese does not pose a risk to health: people who eat a lot of cheese are not necessarily unhealthier. Although there is no proven positive effect. But you can enjoy a sandwich with cheese without worrying about your health,” concludes Hettinga.
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