When You Eat Cottage Cheese For Breakfast, This Is What Happens To Your Body

Are you thinking of skipping breakfast? You'd be in good company: One-quarter of Americans forgo breakfast, according to a OnePoll U.S. survey from 2021 (via StudyFinds). Even so, you might want to give breakfast a second chance. 

As the first meal, breakfast sets the tone for a day's worth of healthy eating. At the same time, it provides important nutrients to help fuel your body until bedtime. But should cottage cheese have a place in your morning fare? The best way to know is to consider the advantages — and limitations — that cottage cheese brings to the breakfast table.

To be sure, cottage cheese packs a nice nutritional punch. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a 4-ounce (half-cup) serving of whole-milk cottage cheese contains 111 calories, 12.5 grams of protein, 93.8 milligrams of calcium, and high quantities of magnesium, potassium, folate, and vitamin A. Not too bad. 

However, cottage cheese does have a few nutritional dings against it with its 4.92 grams of fat and 356 milligrams of sodium. Fortunately, low-fat and low-salt cottage cheese varieties are available if you want to minimize your intake of either of those ingredients.

Although all the nutrients in cottage cheese can be beneficial, protein and calcium are particularly critical if you want to kick off your day on a high-performance note. After all, these nutrients are well-known allies for reducing food cravings and balancing the delicate systems that control the body's nerves and muscles.

Eating cottage cheese after getting up enables you to fill your stomach with a protein-dense food and that's great if you're someone who constantly has cravings. The more protein you consume, the less likely you'll be to experience premature hunger pangs.

While it's a good practice to make sure that all your meals have a protein component to keep your satiety levels strong, incorporating protein into your breakfast via a food like cottage cheese is a must-try if you want long-term fullness. And that goes double if you're trying to reach a healthier weight for your body type, age, lifestyle, and gender. 

In a 2024 study found in the Journal of Dairy Science, researchers served young, overweight-to-obese female subjects either high-protein and low-carbohydrate breakfasts, low-protein and high-carbohydrate breakfasts, or nothing at all. Those who ate the first type of breakfast (the one loaded with protein) reported stronger feelings of long-term fullness and scored higher on cognitive tests than their counterparts who ate a low-protein breakfast or no breakfast.

In another study from a 2022 issue of Food Research, a group of men with normal BMIs were given high-protein milk as part of their breakfast. They experienced the same phenomenon as the subjects in the previously mentioned study: A short-term suppression of their appetite responses.

Calcium plays a pivotal role in the human system. As the Mayo Clinic explains, calcium can serve as a helpful nutrient to keep the nervous and muscular systems running properly. At the same time, it can play a protective part against the development of diseases and conditions like certain cancers and hypertension.

How much calcium should you aim for in a given day? The National Institutes of Health recommend that men and women ages 18 and older consume between 1,000 and 1,200 milligrams daily depending upon gender and age. Since a half-cup of cottage cheese contains just under 100 milligrams of calcium, a relatively small amount could be enough to provide you with approximately 10% of your target calcium intake. Though you'll need to eat other calcium-rich foods (or take a supplement) to meet your calcium goals for the day, a cottage cheese breakfast could be a substantial kickoff.  And calcium from dairy foods like cottage cheese may be more effectively and predictably absorbed than calcium from other foods, according to a 2022 study in Nutrients.

Although science supports adding cottage cheese to your breakfast to ramp up your protein and calcium consumption, you may want to think twice about eating only cottage cheese. Yes, the "cottage cheese diet" is a craze, as Healthline notes. However, Healthline's team is quick to advise against eating only cottage cheese. Why? Even if you choose a lower-fat, lower-sodium brand, you're not getting any fiber.

This doesn't mean you need to bulk up your breakfast beyond what your empty stomach can handle. A few fiber-rich add-ons could be all you need. For instance, citrus fruits, berries, and nuts are fiber-rich foods. Each of those items could be a perfect partner with cottage cheese. 

By upping the fiber in your breakfast, you'll up your satiety potential, too. In a 2023 article for Cleveland Clinic, registered dietitian Beth Czerwony advocates for morning fiber as a lasting hunger-buster. "Fiber is what's going to help slow down that digestion. It's going to help keep you fuller longer but it's also going to help with digestion, so you have good GI [gastrointestinal] health."

In other words, if your breakfast is due for a refresh, start by considering cottage cheese. Then, build out your morning meal to fill in any nutritional gaps and give you the stamina to make it to lunch.