High calcium cheese
Pro Research Analysisby 
Searched over 200M research papers
Consensus Meter
High Calcium Cheese: Composition, Digestion, and Health Implications
Introduction to High Calcium Cheese
High calcium cheese is a dairy product enriched with additional calcium to enhance its nutritional value. This enrichment can affect the cheese's texture, digestion, and overall health benefits. Various studies have explored the impact of calcium enrichment on different types of cheese, including Cheddar, goat cheese, and ricotta-type cheeses.
Calcium Enrichment Methods and Cheese Composition
Calcium Compounds in Cheese Production
Different calcium compounds, such as calcium chloride, gluconate, lactate, and carbonate, are used to enrich cheese. Each compound affects the cheese's properties differently. For instance, calcium chloride is commonly used without reducing protein retention, while calcium gluconate can increase cheese yield significantly. Calcium lactate, on the other hand, can reduce cheese yield but increase calcium and phosphorus levels.
Impact on Cheese Texture and Structure
Calcium enrichment generally increases the hardness of cheese. This is observed in both Cheddar and goat cheeses, where higher calcium content results in firmer textures . Additionally, calcium carbonate increases the cohesiveness of cheese, while calcium chloride maintains the highest overall acceptability in terms of taste and texture.
Digestion and Bioaccessibility of High Calcium Cheese
In Vitro Digestion Studies
Studies on Cheddar cheese have shown that higher calcium content slows down the disintegration of cheese during digestion. However, it also accelerates lipolysis, the breakdown of fats, due to the interaction between calcium and the cheese matrix . This interaction can modulate the access of digestive enzymes to their substrates, affecting the overall digestion process.
Bioavailability of Calcium
Ricotta-type cheeses produced by high heat-acid coagulation methods have shown high calcium bioavailability, with significant portions of calcium being absorbed and retained in the body. This makes such cheeses an important source of dietary calcium.
Health Implications of High Calcium Cheese
Blood Lipids and Fecal Fat Excretion
High calcium cheese can influence blood lipid levels and fecal fat excretion. Diets rich in cheese-based calcium have been shown to attenuate increases in total and LDL cholesterol induced by saturated fatty acids. Additionally, these diets increase fecal fat excretion, which may contribute to better lipid profiles.
Fatty Acid Bioaccessibility
Calcium in cheese can form insoluble soaps with long-chain fatty acids, reducing their bioaccessibility. This means that while calcium-enriched cheeses may have faster lipolysis rates, the formation of these soaps can hinder the absorption of fatty acids, potentially affecting the release of fat-soluble nutrients.
Conclusion
High calcium cheese offers enhanced nutritional benefits, particularly in terms of calcium intake. The enrichment process affects the cheese's texture, digestion, and health impacts. While it can improve calcium bioavailability and influence lipid metabolism positively, the interaction between calcium and fatty acids may reduce the bioaccessibility of certain nutrients. Further research is needed to optimize calcium enrichment methods to balance these effects for better health outcomes.
Sources and full results
Most relevant research papers on this topic