The Food and Drug Administration defines cheese as: “A product made from curd obtained from whole milk, partly skimmed, or skimmed milk from cows, or from milk of other animals with or without added cream, by coagulating with rennet, lactic acid, or other suitable enzyme or acid with or without further treatment of the separate curd by heat or pressure, or by means of ripening ferments, special molds or seasonings.”

Cheese is made by coagulating casein, a protein found in milk. Rennet, an enzyme used in the coagulating process, reacts with milk, separating the whey from the curd and producing cheese. Hard cheeses like cheddar and soft cheeses like cottage cheese and mozzarella are made with rennet. In the past, most of the rennet came from the lining membrane of the fourth stomach of unweaned calves, lambs or goats. But due to the greater demand for cheese, and lower availability of slaughtered calves, other sources are being used including pepsins from pigs, cows, and chickens. Some cheeses are made with vegetable-derived rennet. Contact the specific cheese manufacturer to find out which type of rennet he or she uses. Salt, calcium chloride, and a yellow coloring agent are added to cheese. Some varieties are placed in a brine solution. To produce Swiss cheese, the milk is bleached. Few cheeses are eaten fresh; most cheeses are ripened or cured from one month up to two years.

Cheese is high in calories, averaging about 100 calories an ounce. Cheese contains a lot of sodium.

The sodium content of cheese varies from less than 150 mg an ounce up to 550 mg an ounce. See Table 1. One cup of large curd cottage cheese has 911 mg of sodium. This is about half the amount people with hypertension can safely have on a 2 gm low-sodium diet for the whole day. Processed cheeses like American, Blue, Parmesan, and Roquefort have 350-500 mg. of sodium an ounce.

Cheese is giving Americans heart attacks, says the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). Cheese is the highest source of saturated fat in our diet. “Americans are eating far too much fatty cheese. Unfortunately, it’s everywhere: on sandwiches, on lean chicken, on salads, and even on fries. And it’s doing even more damage to our hearts than beef or butter,” according to Margo Wootan, Nutrition Policy Director for CSPI. “Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American men and women,” says Dr. William E. Connor, professor of Medicine and Clinical Nutrition at the Oregon Health Sciences University. “Anything Americans can do to reduce their intake of saturated fat and cholesterol, such as cutting back on cheese, would lessen the risk of heart disease.”

“Just one ounce of full-fat cheese can have as much as six grams of artery-clogging fat - a third of a day’s worth,” said Wootan. “An ounce isn’t much, just 1 ½ slices of processed cheese, or a 1 ¼ cube of cheddar or most other hard cheeses, or the cheese on a slice of a large pizza.”4

Cheeses are also a high source of protein. One half cup of cottage cheese has about one fourth of an adult’s daily protein requirement. Three and a half ounces of hard cheese provides up to 50% of the daily protein needs. A slice of pizza has 14.6 grams (g) of protein, but who stops at one slice? Three slices of pizza have 46 g of protein, which is 3/4 of the daily protein requirement for males and 100% for females. Daily Reference Intakes (DRI) for protein for an adult are 0.8 g for each kg of body weight; 56 g of protein for males and 46 g for females. The average American eats 90-120 g of protein a day, which is 1.5-2 times the protein that our body needs. If we continue eating high amounts of cheese and other protein-rich foods, we are at risk of developing health problems that result from protein-rich diets: decreased kidney function, increased gall stone formation, and osteoporosis.5

Most cheeses are high in fat, averaging 6-9 grams an ounce; most of this fat is saturated. The fat content of fresh cheeses is about 12% of the total calories; ripened cheeses contain about 30% calories from fat. As a nation, we are already struggling with too much fat in our diets. About 40% of our calories come from fat. We need to limit our fat to less than 20% of the total calories. The cholesterol content of 3 1/2 ounces of cheese varies from 30 mg to 120 mg. The American Heart Association recommends limiting our dietary cholesterol to less than 300 mg a day.

When cholesterol is exposed to the air for some time, it produces oxidized cholesterol, which in turn develops dangerous by-products. Some of these by-products are so toxic that they destroy the cells that line the artery walls in less than 24 hours. Even when eaten in small amounts, these “oxidation products” can cause irreversible damage. Custard mixes, pancake mixes, lard, and parmesan cheese are the foods that contain oxidized cholesterol and produce damage to the blood vessels.6-8

Scientists at the University of Ottawa in Canada set out to investigate the impact of diet on testicular cancer, the most common cancer in Canadian men, 20-45 years old. Michael, Garner, the lead researcher states: “Our results suggest that high dairy product intake, in particular high intake of cheese, is associated with an elevated risk of testicular cancer in Canadian males.” The authors suggest that the culprit may be the high amounts of female sex hormones (estrogen and progesterone) found in dairy products.9 Dairy products have also been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in women and prostate cancer in men. Epidemiological studies at Loma Linda University found that men who were heavy users of milk, eggs, and cheese had three times the risk of developing prostate cancer.10

Are you eating moldy cheese without knowing it? Researchers have found a yellowish discoloration on moldy cheeses where the Aspergillus parasiticus was growing. Although workers in the industry carefully wash off the surface mold to hide the toxin invasion, the cheese was discolored up to 10 millimeters (mm) on the inside.11

We know that molds are dangerous toxins for animals and humans. Molds of the Aspergillus family produce cancer-causing chemicals called aflotoxins. Cheeses that take a long time to ripen at high humidity are ideal for growing aflotoxins. Since cheeses are not tested for aflotoxin content during manufacturing, you may be eating aflotoxins unknowingly.12

Mold on cheese that’s not part of the manufacturing process can also harbor harmful bacteria, such as listeria, brucella, salmonella, and E. coli. In 1984, 10,000 Canadians became ill from an outbreak of salmonellosis. The cause? They ate cheddar cheese which was contaminated with organisms from the Salmonella family.13

In 2005, cases of tuberculosis in New York City have been linked to consumption of queso-fresco-style cheeses, either imported from Mexico or consumed in Mexico. The cheese was contaminated with Mycobacterium bovis. The FDA recommends that consumers do not eat any raw milk soft cheeses from Mexico, Nicaragua, or Honduras. Data show that they are often contaminated with pathogens. The FDA further advises that there is some risk of infection from a number of pathogenic bacteria for anyone who eats raw milk soft cheese from any source.14 Listeria is another microorganism that can be found in cheese and in milk from healthy cows and goats. Infants and people with low immunity have trouble resisting this germ.15

Tyramine and tryptamine are two of the several major chemicals amines found in cheese. They can have a detrimental effect on our frontal lobes. Tyramine is found abundantly in cheese, wine, and other rich foods.16 When we eat tyramine in the cheese, it stimulates the body’s stress hormone system, specifically the hormone called norepinephrine. This chemical triggers our body’s stress response.17

Stress often interferes with the fine control of our thought processes needed for learning, creative thinking, and recall. Dr. Guyton states that the stress hormones can actually decrease blood flow to the brain.18 Tyramine has been called a false neurotransmitter because it confuses the brain cells. It acts like a brain chemical messenger, when it really comes from a food source.

Tryptamine is another chemical found in cheese that causes brain transmission problems. Tryptamine has been associated with nightmares and even classed with drugs like LSD and psilocybin due to its hallucinogenic effects.19 Foods that have these mind-altering elements include cheese, fish and sausages.20-22 Early spoilage of poultry also produces these compounds. According to research, significant spoilage can happen even at normal refrigeration temperatures.23

How can you practically apply this information? First, it is believed that these biogenic amines may be one of the many factors influencing hyperactivity in children. So if you have children, make them one healthy cheese alternative or purchase soy cheese. Second, people who eat tyramine and tryptamine-rich foods in the evening may have a problem with nightmares.24 Therefore, if you like to eat pizza late in the evening, beware!

The worst culprits for a migraine headache are dairy products, but cheese is the worst offender.25 People have reported severe migraine headaches and allergic-type symptoms from eating cheese.

“The FDA tested 16 samples of cheddar cheese from around the nation. There were one hundred pesticide and industrial chemical residues in the samples, . . . BHC, DDT, dieldrin, heptachlor, HCB, octachlor, and penta were found in at least a quarter of the samples. . . . This is serious contamination, the result of years of pesticide use, which has laced our soil with poisons. These poisons taint crops and are then concentrated in the milk of dairy cows that feed on those crops. The high fat content of cheddar and other cheeses concentrates the toxins even more. The average cheese-eating American eats a little less than an ounce of cheddar cheese daily. Based on this consumption pattern, we can expect as many as thirty-six excess cancers in one million persons. That makes cheddar and any other high-fat nonorganic cheese a high risk food.”26

Over one hundred twenty years ago, a prominent nutritionist commented about the effect of cheese on health:

“Many a mother sets a table that is a snare to her family. Flesh meats, butter, cheese, rich pastry, spiced foods, and condiments are freely partaken of by both old and young. These things do their work in deranging the stomach, exciting the nerves, and enfeebling the intellect. The blood-making organs cannot convert such things into good blood. The grease cooked in the food renders it difficult of digestion. The effect of cheese is deleterious.”27 “Cheese should never be introduced into the stomach.”28

Today, the evidence against cheese is tremendous, but the choice is yours. You can eat a high sodium, high saturated fat, high protein, and high cholesterol food. You may wish to eat this mind-altering food that is loaded with molds, cancer-causing toxins and amines, and artery-clogging fat. Or you may enjoy healthy cheese alternatives! We have included great recipes for healthful cheese substitutes. These are made from nuts and seeds and can be used in your favorite recipes. After all, there were no cheese factories in Eden! Fruits, nuts, grains, legumes, and vegetables make up the ideal diet given by our Creator.29 Don’t you believe that He knows what is best for our health? Experiment with some of our cheese substitutes and stop worrying about the disease-causing agents in cheese. It is not worth the migraine headache!