Parmesan is the richest common cheese in calcium, with 1,180 mg per 100g. But, cottage and ricotta cheese are much healthier dietary sources of calcium!
Which is the richest common cheese in calcium?
The richest common cheese in calcium is parmesan. Parmesan cheese has 1,180 mg of calcium per 100g. It contributes to the daily calcium intake:
- a cubic inch has 122 mg of calcium, or 12% of the recommended daily intake.
- 1 oz has 335 mg of calcium, or 33% of the Daily Value.
- a big serving has approximately 200 mg of calcium, or 20% of the DV.
What cheese should I eat for calcium?
Actually, many types of cheese are high in calcium. Besides parmesan, provolone, edam, cheddar and mozzarella are excellent dietary sources of calcium. They have more than 600 mg of calcium per 100g. A serving provides more than 12% of the Daily Value!
| calcium (mg per 100g) | calcium (mg per serving) | % DV | |
| parmesan | 1,180 | 200 | 20% |
| provolone | 756 | 128 | 13% |
| edam | 731 | 124 | 12% |
| cheddar | 707 | 120 | 12% |
| gouda | 700 | 119 | 12% |
| mozzarella | 693 | 118 | 12% |
| feta | 371 | 63 | 6% |
| ricotta | 224 | 38 | 4% |
| brie | 184 | 31 | 3% |
| goat cheese | 140 | 24 | 2% |
| cottage | 103 | 18 | 2% |
| cream cheese | 97 | 16 | 2% |
On the contrary, cream cheese, cottage, goat, ricotta, feta, and brie have a much lower calcium content. A serving provides only 1-6% of the recommended daily intake.
Should I depend on cheese to meet my daily needs of calcium?
Although many types of cheese are high in calcium, we shouldn’t depend on them to meet our daily needs.
Saturated fat
Firstly, cheese is one of the main dietary sources of saturated fatty acids. Not only is cheese high in saturated fat, but also we eat high amounts. Other sources of saturated fat are meat and butter.
Consuming too much saturated fat can raise the level of LDL-cholesterol, and increase the risk of heart disease![2]
According to the American Heart Association, we should consume no more than 13 grams of saturated fat a day on a 2,000 calorie diet.
A serving of most cheeses provides 22-26% of the maximum recommended daily intake!
Only low-fat cottage cheese has negligible amounts of saturated fat per serving! Reasonable amounts of cottage cheese before bed support weight loss and a good night’s sleep.
Sodium
Furthermore, we shouldn’t depend on cheese to meet our daily calcium needs because most cheeses are particularly high in sodium.
Parmesan, which is the richest cheese in calcium, it’s also the cheese with the highest sodium content. Parmesan has 1,180 mg of sodium per 100g! A serving has 200 mg of sodium, which is 13% of the maximum recommended daily intake!
Actually, most cheeses are high in sodium. They provide 4-13% of the maximum safe dose per serving.
Only ricotta has a particularly low sodium content.
According to the American Heart Association, we should limit the daily sodium intake to 1,500 mg, in order to reduce the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease.[3]
Therefore, we should eat only small portions of cheese. Eat cheese in salads or healthy snacks for taste.
What’s the healthiest cheese with a lot of calcium?
In fact, the healthiest cheese is ricotta and cottage cheese. A serving provides only 4% and 2% of the DV of calcium, respectively. But, both cheeses are relatively low in saturated fat and sodium.
Moreover, they have a decent amount of protein.
They’re the best types of cheese for weight loss. You can eat them with crackers at dinner or as a filling snack between meals.
How much calcium in other dairy?
Milk and yogurt are also excellent dietary sources of calcium. Cow’s milk has about 125 mg of calcium per 100g, or 310 mg per cup. Thus, a serving provides about 30% of the DV.
However, too much milk can be unhealthy:
- whole milk has 4.6 grams (36% DV) of saturated fat per cup.
- 2% milk has 2.8 grams (21% DV) of saturated fat per cup.
Greek yogurt has 100 mg of calcium per 100g. A serving provides 25% of the DV. But, a serving of whole yogurt has 6 grams (46% DV) of saturated fat.
Butter has only 21 mg of calcium per 100g. We should avoid butter. It has a poor nutritional value, while it’s high in calories, saturated fat, and sodium.
Actually, we should consume a wide variety of plant-based foods high in calcium. Cheese and other dairy aren’t the only dietary sources of calcium.
