Men Over 50 Should Avoid Eating This Cheese Every Day (And Eat This Instead)

Few lunch staples are as commonplace as a fresh ham and cheese sandwich or juicy cheeseburger loaded with fresh toppings. Yet if you're a man over 50, you'll want to be careful about the type of cheese you're tossing on your bun. That "cheese" might not be honest-to-goodness cheese at all, particularly if it comes as a flat square wrapped in plastic (aka American cheese). In that case, it's likely to be "cheese food," a less nutritious version of all-natural cheese.

Although we tend to refer to any product in the cheese aisle (including American cheese) as "cheese," we're not always being accurate. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration gives manufacturers the freedom to call items "cheese food" if those items are made up of at least 51% real cheese. And while it may be easy to think that cheese food is the same as cheese, the two are different: up to 49% of any type of cheese food contains ingredients that might surprise you.

What's lurking in a typical square of orange-colored "cheese food"? According to the fourth edition of the book "Cheese," cheese food (aka processed cheese) is typically filled with additional oils and salts. The reason is practical: Each additive gives the cheese food a longer shelf life, as well as increased stabilization and meltability when heated. However, if you've already celebrated your 50th birthday, you need to be cautious about eating processed cheese items every day, because all those added salts and fats aren't helping you.

When you reach your 50s as a man, your body begins to respond differently to some ingredients and nutrients than it did when you were in your 40s or 30s. Plus, your age makes you more likely to experience certain diseases and conditions. For example, WebMD warns that high blood pressure (hypertension) and becoming overweight are two issues that adults over the age of 50 frequently face. And the sodium content and fat calories in cheese foods can contribute to both of those concerns.

According to a 2019 article in Nutrients, excessive sodium intake has been shown to cause or exacerbate hypertension. Conversely, eating a limited sodium diet has been linked to improvements in cardiovascular responses. Therefore, avoiding ingredients that are high in added salts, like processed cheese foods, is an appropriate way to help reduce your chances of blood pressure issues.

As far as fats are concerned, the National Institute on Aging suggests eating foods that don't contain a lot of saturated fat when you're 50 and beyond. Since processed cheese foods tend to be filled with saturated fat, they fall into the category of "eat with caution." By limiting how often you snack on processed cheese, you'll have more control over your waistline.

This doesn't mean you have to go without cheese on your cold or hot sandwiches, of course. You have other alternatives, including a high-quality cheese that's earning top marks for its nutritional impact: goat cheese.

Goat cheese may not look, taste, or perform exactly like processed cheese, but give it a chance as a smart swap for processed cheese. Per WebMD,  goat cheese is filled with riboflavin, potassium, calcium, copper, and probiotics. That means you'll get the most nutritional value possible from the cheese you eat. That's good, particularly if you're aiming for weight loss. In a 2020 study published in Nutrients, overweight male participants who ate 60 grams of goat cheese enhanced with polyunsaturated fatty acids for 12 weeks experienced a rise in their high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels (so-called "good cholesterol").

How does goat cheese stack up against other cheeses in the fat and salt departments? Quite well, actually. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) notes that an ounce of goat cheese contains about 75 calories, just under 6 grams of fat, and 130 mg of sodium. In comparison, the USDA shows that the same serving size of cheddar cheese contains 114 calories, 9.4 grams of fat, and 185 mg of sodium. And even though USDA figures indicate an ounce of provolone cheese is just 80 calories and about as many grams of fat as the same amount of goat cheese, it has a whopping 210 mg of sodium.

Ultimately, goat cheese allows you to satisfy your taste buds and maintain a healthier lifestyle both in and past your midlife years.