Is cottage cheese healthy?

A delicious bowl of cottage cheese. But is it really that good for your health? What are the health differences between low-fat, semi-skimmed and full-fat cottage cheese? What about the amount of fat of the last two types mentioned? And is flavored cottage cheese actually healthy? Or is it better to avoid this?

What is cottage cheese

Cottage cheese is a fresh form of cheese. The milk is supplemented with lactic acid bacteria to which rennet is also added.

Is it healthy

Lots of protein

It differs per type discussed below, but if you choose low-fat cottage cheese, it has a lot of proteins. These proteins are slow (casein) so they release proteins for a long period of time. It is therefore wise for athletes to take it in the evening, so that your body benefits from it for a large part of the night.
Why is protein healthy? Protein is first and foremost good for maintaining muscle tissue. Secondly, protein has a saturated effect, it is more filling than fat and carbohydrates and certainly more than sugars . It is therefore wise to give up cookies and sweets during a binge and instead consume protein.

Lots of calcium

Low-fat cottage cheese contains around 130 mg of calcium. Calcium is necessary for the construction and maintenance of bones and teeth. Calcium also ensures the transport of other minerals in the body cells. If you consume too little calcium, you are more likely to develop osteoporosis later in life.

Vitamin K2

Not a very well-known vitamin, but a healthy one. Vitamin K2 ensures that calcium remains in the bones and it ensures that calcium does not enter the blood vessels, where it can cause arterial stiffness and calcification. An excess of calcium in particular can cause it to end up in the blood vessels. In addition, vitamin K2 cleans the blood vessels.

Types of cottage cheese

Low-fat quark

Low-fat cottage cheese contains no or very little fat, but some brands add sugars, which obviously makes the cottage cheese unhealthy. You don’t often come across flavored low-fat cottage cheese.

Semi-skimmed cottage cheese

Semi-skimmed cottage cheese contains less fat than the full type, but still has a large proportion of fat. The semi-skimmed variant often only changes the amount of fat with the full curd. There are flavors of the semi-skimmed type. Semi-skimmed cottage cheese usually contains less protein than the low-fat type.

Full cottage cheese

Full-fat cottage cheese contains the most fat of all types of cottage cheese. Because this fat consists mostly of saturated fats, it is not the healthiest choice. Compared to the other two types, it is a lot thicker and is therefore considered tastier by many. So it is up to you to decide what you find more important, taste or health. Just like semi-skimmed cottage cheese, full cottage cheese usually contains less protein than the low-fat type.

100 grams	Jogging low-fat cottage cheese (Aldi)	AH Biogarde low-fat cottage cheese	Mona Semi-skimmed cottage cheese banana	Almhof Full cottage cheese Spanish orange
Energy (kcal)	60	48	116	141
Fat (g)	0.2	0.1	3.4	5.3
– Of which saturated (g)	0.1	0.1	2.2	3.6
Protein (g)	10.3	8.5	5.9	5.5
Carbohydrates (g)	4	3	15.5	17
– Of which sugars (g)	4	3	14.4	15.5

Comparison of the species mentioned below.

As you can see, there is a significant difference between low-fat cottage cheese and semi-skimmed and full flavored cottage cheese. If you were to ignore the taste, the sugars in semi-skimmed and full-fat cottage cheese would be approximately 3 to 4 grams, but the fats are the same as the examples above. The flavor determines the amount of added sugars. This immediately makes the flavored cottage cheese very unhealthy.