How (Un)Healthy Is Cream Cheese Actually? How Does It Affect Diabetes?

This might appear obvious at first: cream cheese is obviously unhealthy for diabetics! However, a closer look reveals that the situation is more nuanced and less clear-cut than it appears.

For many of you, cream cheese is just a commercial term for a condiment that is loaded with chemicals, carbohydrates, and other ingredients that can cause heart disease, diabetes, and obesity. It is nothing like real cheese.

However, the cream cheese is precisely what its name implies: it is a real cheese that has undergone very little culturing or maturing.

After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of cheese in general and the process of making cream cheese, you will see why cream cheese has similar highs and lows as other so-called proper cheeses.

The glycemic index (GI) of cheese is low

A food’s Glycemic Index (GI) is a number that ranges from 0 to 100, where 100 represents pure glucose, and it represents how quickly a food elevates blood sugar levels. The GI of a dish is unquestionably something to be aware of for diabetics.

Cheeses often have a low GI because, as stated by Medical News Today, they are manufactured from cultured milk, have almost no carbs, and are seasoned with salt.

Patients with diabetes require stricter control over their blood sugar levels because their disease is mostly brought on by an insufficient amount of insulin. Cheeses are therefore, as far as GI is concerned, safe to eat as long as they are a part of a balanced diet.

Cheese is high in protein

If you’ve ever checked up the nutritional information on cheese, you know that it’s high in protein. Consider cheddar cheese, the most popular cheese in North America, which has 23.3 grams of protein per 100 grams. And that makes sense—the majority of the whey, which is the basis of protein powders, is concentrated when milk is turned into cheese.

The high protein content of this profile helps to keep blood sugar levels stable. Not only does protein regulate blood sugar surges, but it also doesn’t raise blood sugar levels when consumed on its own for whatever reason.

Again, one of the most essential aspects of treating diabetes is avoiding blood sugar spikes, and cheese seems to help with that.

Perhaps as a result of this characteristic of cheese, a 2012 study discovered that individuals who ingested 55 grams or more of the dairy product daily had a 12% lower chance of getting diabetes than those who consumed other forms of dairy.

However, it is significant that this study does not allow for a definitive judgment to be made. It’s possible that individuals with lower diabetes risk were just reaping the benefits of their pre-existing superior health in comparison to other participants in the same research. They are therefore better “equipped” to consume cheese without running the danger of developing diabetes.

In fact, cheese is not a health guru, even if it isn’t quite as bad as deep-fried foods.

Cheese with a lot of fat and calories

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that you limit your intake of saturated fat to no more than 10% of your total calories. However, there are more than 200 calories in around 50 grams (2 slices) of cheddar cheese, and about thirty of those calories are pure saturated fat. That already accounts for roughly 3% of your daily caloric intake.

Consequently, cheese is heavy in fat and calories, even if its high protein composition helps to balance blood sugar.

The USDA’s recommendation about the particular threshold for saturated fat makes sense. A 2016 study revealed a connection between the use of dairy products, such as cheese, and an increased risk for cardiovascular disorders among adult US citizens.

Given the strong correlation between diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, cheese’s high fat content can’t be beneficial for the health of those with diabetes either.

Sodium content in cheese is high.

When it comes to heart health, one important component is sodium, which can raise blood pressure. Consuming a lot of salty food over time can result in chronically high blood pressure, which increases the chance of developing heart disease.

Even though cheese tastes good, it has a lot of salt. Using our old acquaintance cheddar cheese as an example, simply 100 grams contains 25% of the daily recommended amount of salt. If you cut it down to 50 grams, or two slices, that’s still 13%.

We have so demonstrated that while cheese generally has variable impacts on human health, it is probably best avoided or consumed in moderation by those with diabetes. How about cream cheese? Do they have the same meaning?

Cream cheese preparation

Even while a lot of the packaged cream cheese options available may appear to be harmful, they are not as horrible as people think. Cream cheese is generally connected to sweets, which is a bad indicator because it’s used in cheesecakes. However, the story of manufacturing cream cheese is somewhat different.

There’s not much effort in the kitchen involved in making cream cheese—making it requires a lot of waiting. To make cream cheese, you basically need two ingredients—no, not any brand-named goods like Philadelphia.

The first component is unsweetened plain yogurt. Not the Greek sort, the ordinary, more fluid variety, please. After wrapping the entire tub of yogurt in many layers of cheesecloth, you allow it to rest over a container in the refrigerator for a full day. Squeezing the yogurt will cause it to seep through the fabric. To ensure that the liquid portion keeps coming out, make sure the cloths are spaced far enough apart from the strained liquid.

The solid portion separates from the liquid when the allotted time has elapsed. It already has a pretty similar appearance to cream cheese at this point. There is still one more step, though: taste and add a little salt. Then, refrigerate for an additional two days.

The yogurt’s culture and salt will work together over the course of these two days to break down the creamy, solid portion. Even while the block of solid won’t look all that different after those two exhausting days, you will definitely be able to identify it as cream cheese once you taste it.

There is no additional sugar, and salt is only used sparingly to preserve the signature flavor.

Thus…Is cream cheese a nutritious food?

Read Also: Is Cottage Cheese Safe for Diabetes Patients?

Health and cream cheese

If we are talking about nutrition strictly speaking, it is acceptable to state that you get from cream cheese what you would get from yogurt because cream cheese is formed of yogurt and salt. While it is true that cream cheese includes less protein, it also has less sodium, less saturated fat, half the sodium of ordinary cheese (13% daily value in 100 grams), and probiotic culture, which is beneficial to your health system.

So why do most people and experts not consider cream cheese to be a healthy food?

Even though it has less saturated fat than cheese, 100 grams of it still provides 95% of the daily required amount. And when it comes to cream cheese, all the dangers associated with dairy still apply.

The peril of discussing a meal that is mainly a condiment as though it were something we should consume on its own is another reason why people believe cream cheese to be harmful. Based on our current understanding of cream cheese, which is essentially salt and dried yogurt, 50 grams of cream cheese is definitely better than the same quantity of cheddar. However, we don’t only eat cream cheese.

The issue lies not in cream cheese per such, but rather in the way we often consume it. We consume it in cheesecakes, sandwiches, and bagels. We find it difficult to envision a cream cheese occasion without some sort of carbohydrate. Carbs, as we all know, are a terrible enemy of persons with diabetes when it comes to blood sugar levels.

So, as long as you keep bread out of it, you may eat cream cheese while managing your diabetes with no greater risk than you would from two pieces of normal cheese.

Furthermore, as you’ve seen, making cream cheese at home is simple. Rather than purchasing it from the producers, where you have no control over the ingredients, you can prepare it at home with low-fat yogurts and change the salt content to make it taste lighter and more refreshing while also providing a healthier dosage of sodium.

In summary

A large portion of cream cheese’s negative connotations appear to stem from the way our culture uses it. Despite having a lot of calories and saturated fat, cream cheese seems to be a healthier option than regular cheese when handled properly and without added carbohydrates.

However, before committing to either purchasing it or making it at home (which can make it healthier by controlling ingredients yourself), it is always advisable to have your doctor review your meal plan that includes cream cheese because of the saturated fat it contains and the dairy sugars that are naturally present in all dairy products.