Nutritional value of cheese

The essence of cheese making is the coagulation of milk and its conversion from a colloidal dispersion into a gel known as curd, and the subsequent release of water in the form of whey.

The cheese-makers have to ensure that the cheese is an edible, acceptable, marketable and nutritious food. 

Nowadays, the consumer has become more away of food composition and the risks – real or imaginary – that may associated with excessive intakes of certain components in foods.

Cheese has a high nutritional value as would be expected from the fact that a pint or 568 mL of milk produces only about 56 g cheese.

Cheese made from whole milk is known to contain most of the essential fatty acids.

The daily protein requirement for adults is approximately 1g/kg, of body weight so that, for a person weighing 70 kg, the daily requirements would be about 70 g of protein.

All cheese is a good source of high quality proteins with sufficient amounts of all the essential amino acids. Casein is the main protein in cheese, it contains all the indispensible amino acids in approximately the proportions that the human body needs.

Cheese is rich source of calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A and also contains useful quantities of other nutrients.

All cheeses, except cottage cheese, are good sources of vitamin A. Orange and yellow cheeses are colored with carotenoid pigments, including bixin (the carotenoid pigment in anatto) and synthetic beta-carotene. 

Hard cheeses are an excellent source of calcium: softer cheeses are a good source; cream cheese and cottage cheese are poor source.

It is much more concentrated food than milk but it less complete because of its lack of carbohydrate.

45 g of cheddar cheese contains:
Energy            769 kJ
Protein           11.5 g
Carbohydrate 0.05 g
Fat                 15.5 g
Calcium          324 mg
Iron                0.1 mg

50 g cottage cheese contains:
Energy            207 kJ
Protein            6.9 g
Carbohydrate 1.1 g
Fat                 2 g
Calcium          35 mg
Iron                0.2 mg
Nutritional value of cheese

Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk

Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk
Milk is the normal secretion of the mammary glands for the feeding of the young of mammals. In the United States, the primary milk in this food products rest primarily with the individual states rather than with the federal government. Consequently, legal definitions of milk are not uniform within the United States. The U.S Public Health Service has encouraged the adoption of adequate and uniform state and local control registration. The following definition from its Grade A Pasteurized Milk Ordinance (1965) has been adopted by a majority of the states.

“Milk is hereby defined to be the lacteal secretion, practically free from colostrum, obtained by the complete milking of one or more healthy cows, which contains not less than 8.25% milk solids not fat and not less than 3.25% milk fat.”

The composition of milk is rather complex. Of the major components of milk, the one that most readily distinguishes milk from other foods is lactose, which occurs naturally only in milk. Similarly, casein occurs in milk. The proteins of milk are great importance and contribute essential amino acids necessary for normal health and growth. Milk fat is a palatable mixture of glycerides of fatty acids. The components are in the complex equilibrium, and much is yet to be learned regarding the forms and combinations in which they exist. Lactose and some mineral salts are in the true solutions; the milk proteins as well as some of the calcium phosphate exist in colloidal solution; the fat exists in macroscopic dispersion in the milk plasma. Besides these major constituent, milk contains other constituents such as vitamin, enzymes, pigments and lactic acid.
Definition and Nutritional Values of Milk