White cheese: several cheeses under one name, and a pregnancy warning

The strongest evidence on this page is about hard cheese, a different product. In a meta-analysis of 5 randomized trials in healthy adults, about 5.1 oz (145 g) of hard cheese a day in place of butter lowered LDL cholesterol by 8.5 mg/dL (95% CI 5.4 to 11; metric: 0.22 mmol/L, 0.14 to 0.29), or 6.5 percent, and HDL by 3.9 percent. We found no such synthesis for fresh white cheese. The name itself causes trouble. In UK tables, white cheese means hard cheeses such as Cheshire and Wensleydale, at 381 calories and 31.8 g of fat per 3.5 oz (100 g). The single USDA record for queso blanco gives 690 mg of calcium and 13.7 g of saturated fat per 3.5 oz (100 g), with no sample spread. What is clear concerns pregnancy. In a North Carolina outbreak, queso fresco from an unlicensed raw-milk source was linked to 7.3 times higher odds of listeriosis (95% CI 1.4 to 37.5), and the 11 pregnant cases included 5 stillbirths. In a later US outbreak with 7 pregnant cases, the cheese was made from pasteurized milk and contaminated at the plant. The US FDA tells pregnant women to avoid queso fresco, queso blanco and requesón whether the milk was pasteurized or not.

The numbers, per 3.5 oz (100 g)

How much is actually in it

• In 4580 Greek children aged 10 to 12, bread, processed cereals and white cheese supplied 34% of sodium from hidden sources. — 4580 children aged 10 to 12 in Greece (n = 4580) Evidence C source
  34% of hidden sodium from bread, processed cereals and white cheese, 23% above 2200 mg/day
• Per 100 g, queso blanco provides 690 mg calcium, 1.75 mcg vitamin B12 and 13.7 g saturated fat. — USDA SR Legacy reference record (n = 1 record) Evidence E source
  Calcium 690 mg (53% DV), vitamin B12 1.75 mcg (73% DV), saturated fat 13.66 g (68% DV) per 3.5 oz (100 g)
• The UK average for white cheese is 544 mg calcium, 502 mg sodium and 31.8 g fat per 3.5 oz (100 g), far fattier than US queso blanco. — UK composition dataset record (n = 1 record) Evidence E source
  381 calories, protein 23.7 g, fat 31.8 g, calcium 544 mg, sodium 502 mg, vitamin B12 1.6 mcg per 3.5 oz (100 g)

What a real portion looks like

• US survey portions for Puerto Rican white cheese are 28 g a slice, 17 g a cubic inch and 64 g when the amount is not specified. — FNDDS portion records (n = 4 portion records) Evidence E source
  1 slice 28 g, 1 cubic inch 17 g, quantity not specified 64 g, 1 cup 128 g

What your body absorbs

• In 12 young women, about 38 to 42% of the calcium in two fresh cheeses was absorbed in single-meal isotope tests. — Twelve healthy women aged 20 to 29, each test food over 2 days with 2-week washouts (n = 12) Evidence B source
  True fractional Ca absorption 37.7% (SD 10.2) new fresh cheese vs 42.2% (SD 11.6) traditional fresh cheese, not significant
• In 15 young men, a cheese diet with 1700 mg calcium a day raised fecal fat to 5.7 g a day versus 3.9 g on a non-dairy diet and blunted the LDL rise from saturated fat. — Fifteen healthy young men, three 2-week isocaloric diets in crossover (n = 15) Evidence B source
  Fecal fat 5.7 ± 0.4 vs 3.9 ± 0.3 g/d (P < 0.001), LDL rise 18 vs 32 mg/dL (0.47 vs 0.84 mmol/L) (P < 0.05)
• Vitamin D3 in fortified mozzarella eaten baked on pizza raised blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D by 73 nmol/L over 8 weeks at the high dose. — 96 healthy adults eating fortified mozzarella on pizza once a week for 8 weeks (n = 96) Evidence B source
  Serum 25(OH)D +73 ± 22 nmol/L at 28 000 IU/week vs +5.1 ± 11 nmol/L at 200 IU/week, no adverse events

What cooking and storage change

• No study or table measures how heating or frying white cheese changes its nutrients, no sample spread exists for it, and no US or EU health claim names it. — Cooking, composition spread, claim and safety searches (n = 0) Evidence E source
  USDA R6 none for white cheese; Foundation Foods none; corpus 0 records on white cheese with cooking retention or allergy; 21 CFR 101 and EU register none for white cheese or queso blanco

What it does to your health

• Two 3.5 oz (100 g) servings a day of vitamin D and calcium fortified soft white cheese for 6 weeks lowered the bone resorption marker TRAP 5b more than no cheese in postmenopausal women. — 71 healthy postmenopausal women aged about 57 with low calcium and vitamin D intake, 6 weeks (n = 71) Evidence B source
  Greater fall in TRAP 5b and rise in IGF-I vs control (P < 0.02), CTX unchanged
• A meta-analysis of 5 randomized trials found that eating about 5.1 oz (145 g) of hard cheese a day instead of butter lowered LDL cholesterol by 6.5%. — Healthy adults in 5 randomized trials comparing hard cheese with butter of similar P/S ratio (n = 5 RCTs) Evidence A source
  LDL-C -6.5% (-8.5 mg/dL (95% CI -11 to -5.4; metric: -0.22 mmol/l, -0.29 to -0.14)), HDL-C -3.9% (-1.9 mg/dL (95% CI -3.5 to -0.77; metric: -0.05 mmol/l, -0.09 to -0.02)), triglycerides unchanged
• In 11 older adults, adding 6 oz (170 g) of cheese a day to a high-sodium diet for 8 days kept small-vessel dilation normal, while the same sodium without dairy impaired it. — Eleven salt-resistant adults aged about 64, four 8-day controlled diets in crossover (n = 11) Evidence B source
  ACh logEC50 -3.21 on high sodium no dairy vs -4.82 low sodium (P = 0.03), high sodium with cheese -4.46 not impaired
• In a Norwegian cohort, premenopausal women who ate the most white cheese had half the breast cancer risk of those who ate the least. — 64 904 Norwegian women followed 1996/1999 to 2006, 218 premenopausal cases (n = 64904) Evidence C source
  HR 0.50 (95% CI 0.29 to 0.87), 4th vs 1st quartile, premenopausal only, total dairy not associated

Safety, limits and interactions

• In a listeriosis outbreak among Hispanic women in North Carolina, eating queso fresco was linked to 7 times higher odds of infection, with 5 stillbirths among 11 pregnant cases. — 13 outbreak cases (11 pregnant) and matched controls, Winston-Salem, 2000 to 2001 (n = 13 cases) Evidence C source
  Queso fresco MOR 7.3 (95% CI 1.4 to 37.5), door-to-door unlabeled cheese MOR 17.5 (2.0 to 152.5)
• A US listeriosis outbreak in pregnant Hispanic women was traced to Mexican-style cheese made from pasteurized milk, so pasteurization alone did not prevent it. — 7 pregnant Hispanic women in five states vs 43 controls, 2008 to 2009 (n = 7 cases, 43 controls) Evidence C source
  Mexican-style cheese eaten by 100% of cases vs 60% of controls, OR 5.89 (95% CI 1.07 to infinity)
• The US FDA tells pregnant women to avoid queso fresco-type cheeses such as queso blanco even when made from pasteurized milk. — pregnant women in the US Evidence E source
  Avoid regardless of pasteurization, pregnant Hispanic women about 24 times more likely to get listeriosis than other healthy adults
• Among 306 adults in Arab towns in northern Israel, 41% ate cheese from non-regulated sources, and favorable attitudes were linked to eating homemade white cheese, a known route for brucellosis. — 306 adults in five Arab towns in northern Israel, telephone survey (n = 306) Evidence C source
  41% ate non-regulated cheese, favorable attitudes linked to eating homemade white cheese OR 2.66

What people believe that the data does not support

• The EU refused the claim that calcium naturally present in dairy products helps weight loss and fat loss. — EU food labeling Evidence E source
  Non-authorized
• The EU refused the claim that three portions of dairy, including cheese, a day help children keep a healthy body weight. — EU food labeling, children and adolescents Evidence E source
  Non-authorized

The bottom line

Calcium from fresh cheese is absorbed reasonably well. In 12 healthy women aged 20 to 29, about 38 to 42 percent of the calcium in a quark-like fresh cheese was absorbed, in single-meal isotope tests. In 15 young men, two weeks on a diet built around semihard cheese with 1700 mg of calcium a day raised fat lost in stool to 5.7 g a day against 3.9 g on a non-dairy diet. A milk diet with the same calcium did the same. Postmenopausal women with low calcium and vitamin D intake who ate two 3.5 oz (100 g) servings a day of a fortified soft cheese for 6 weeks had a larger fall in the bone resorption marker TRAP 5b than women who ate none. That is a blood marker from a fortified product, with no bone density or fracture data. A Norwegian cohort of 64,904 women found that premenopausal women eating the most white cheese had half the breast cancer rate of those eating the least (HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.87). It rested on 218 cases in one subgroup among many comparisons, and Norwegian white cheese means semihard cheeses like Jarlsberg. Treat it as a lead for researchers. In 4580 Greek children aged 10 to 12, bread, processed cereals and white cheese together supplied 34 percent of sodium from hidden sources, measured by questionnaire. That white cheese is a brined feta type, and the share was not split by food. A slice of Puerto Rican white cheese weighs 0.99 oz (28 g) and a cubic inch 17 g in US survey portions. Queso blanco is often fried, and we found no study or table on how heating changes it. The EU refused two dairy claims that cover cheese, one saying dairy calcium helps weight and fat loss and one saying three portions of dairy a day help children keep a healthy weight. Refused means the evidence fell short when it was assessed. Who should be careful: pregnant women, for the listeria reasons above, including with pasteurized queso fresco-type cheese. Homemade cheese from unregulated sources is the other concern. In a telephone survey of 306 adults in Arab towns in northern Israel, 41 percent ate cheese from such sources, and favorable attitudes went with eating homemade white cheese, a known route for brucellosis. We have no cards on milk allergy or medicines.

Sources

1. wchz-r1-12 · cross-sectional survey
   Thirty-four percent of sodium intake from 'hidden' sources came from bread, processed cereals and white cheese.
   J Hypertens, 2011 · checked 2026-10-02
2. wchz-r1-13 · USDA SR Legacy, dataset
   Cheese, white, queso blanco (FDC 172224, SR Legacy): calcium 690 mg; vitamin B12 1.75 µg; saturated fat 13.661 g per 100 g
   USDA FoodData Central, SR Legacy 2018, FDC 172224 Cheese, white, queso blanco · checked 2026-10-02
3. wchz-r1-14 · CoFID 2021, dataset
   Cheese, white, average (CoFID 12-368): Energy 381 kcal; Fat 31.8 g; Protein 23.7 g; Calcium 544 mg; Sodium 502 mg; Vitamin B12 1.6 µg per 100 g
   CoFID 2021, Public Health England, OGL v3.0, code 12-368 Cheese, white, average · checked 2026-10-02
4. wchz-r1-15 · USDA FNDDS, dataset
   Puerto Rican white cheese (FNDDS 14203510, FDC 2705755): 1 cup = 128 g; 1 slice = 28 g; 1 cubic inch = 17 g; Quantity not specified = 64 g
   USDA FNDDS 2021-2023, food code 14203510, FDC 2705755 Puerto Rican white cheese · checked 2026-10-02
5. wchz-r1-01 · randomized crossover isotope study
   True fractional Ca absorption from six foods was measured in twelve normal healthy women, aged 20-29 years. ... Mean fractional Ca absorption from the new fresh cheese was not significantly different from that from the traditional type (37.7 (SD 10.2)% v. 42.2 (SD 11.6)%).
   Br J Nutr, 1996 · checked 2026-10-02
6. wchz-r1-04 · randomized crossover trial
   Fifteen healthy, young men participated in a randomized 3 × 2-wk crossover study in which the following 3 isocaloric diets that were similar in fat contents and compositions were compared: control diet [nondairy diet (~500 mg Ca/d)], milk diet [semiskimmed milk-based diet (1700 mg Ca/d)], and cheese diet [semihard cow-cheese-based diet (1700 mg Ca/d)]. ... Fecal fat excretion increased more with the consumption of both the milk (5.2 ± 0.4 g/d) and cheese (5.7 ± 0.4 g/d) diets than with the control diet (3.9 ± 0.3 g/d) (P < 0.001).
   Am J Clin Nutr, 2014 · checked 2026-10-02
7. wchz-r1-05 · randomized controlled trial
   In a randomized, double-blind trial, 96 apparently healthy, ethnically diverse adults were randomized to consume 200 IU or 28 000 IU vitamin D3 fortified mozzarella cheese with pizza once weekly for a total of 8 weeks. ... Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D increased by 5.1 ± 11 nmol/L in the low-dose group (n = 47; P = 0.003), and by 73 ± 22 nmol/L in the high-dose group (n = 49; P < 0.0001).
   Can J Diet Pract Res, 2015 · checked 2026-10-02
8. wchz-r1-18 · search record
   retention_search.py white cheese: no method, product unknown to FDC; variability_search.py: nothing found; claims_search.py white cheese / queso blanco: nothing; euclaims_search.py white cheese / queso blanco: nothing
   Bioma corpus and dataset search (PubMed corpus, PMC, USDA R6, Foundation Foods, 21 CFR 101, EU register snapshot 2026-09-21), 2026-10-02 · checked 2026-10-02
9. wchz-r1-02 · randomized controlled trial
   Seventy-one healthy postmenopausal women aged 56.6 ± 3.9 y (mean ± SD) with low spontaneous supply of both Ca and vitamin D were randomized to consume daily (treated, n = 36) or not (controls, n = 35) two servings (2 × 100 g) of skimmed-milk, soft plain cheese for 6 wk. ... At the end of the intervention, the decrease in TRAP 5b and the increase in IGF-I were greater in the treated than in the control group (P < 0.02).
   J Nutr, 2012 · checked 2026-10-02
10. wchz-r1-03 · meta-analysis of randomized trials
    A meta-analysis of 5 RCTs that compared the effects of hard cheese and butter, both of which had a similar ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids (P/S ratio), was performed. DATA SYNTHESIS: Compared with butter intake, cheese intake (weighted mean difference: 145.0 g/d) reduced low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) by 6.5% (-0.22 mmol/l; 95%CI: -0.29 to -0.14) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) by 3.9% (-0.05 mmol/l; 95%CI: -0.09 to -0.02) but had no effect on triglycerides.
    Nutr Rev, 2015 · checked 2026-10-02
11. wchz-r1-06 · randomized crossover feeding trial
    We gave 11 adults without salt-sensitive blood pressure (<10 mmHg Δ mean arterial pressure; 64 ± 2 y) 4 separate 8-d controlled dietary interventions in a randomized, crossover design
    J Nutr, 2020 · checked 2026-10-02
12. wchz-r1-11 · prospective cohort
    Premenopausal women with the highest consumption of white cheese had half the risk of breast cancer compared to those with the lowest consumption (hazard rate ratio in the 4th quartile vs. the 1st quartile 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.29-0.87).
    Cancer Causes Control, 2010 · checked 2026-10-02
13. wchz-r1-07 · case-control outbreak investigation
    Eleven case patients were pregnant; infection with L. monocytogenes resulted in 5 stillbirths, 3 premature deliveries, and 3 infected newborns. Case patients were more likely than control subjects to have eaten the following foods: fresh, unlabeled, Mexican-style cheese sold by door-to-door vendors (matched odds ratio [MOR], 17.5; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.0-152.5); queso fresco, a Mexican-style soft cheese (MOR, 7.3; 95% CI, 1.4-37.5)
    Clin Infect Dis, 2005 · checked 2026-10-02
14. wchz-r1-08 · case-control outbreak investigation
    Seven (100%) cases but only 26 (60%) of 43 controls had consumed Mexican-style cheese in the month before illness (odds ratio, 5.89; 95% confidence interval, 1.07 to ∞; P = 0.04). Cultures of asadero cheese made from pasteurized milk collected at a manufacturing facility during routine sampling by the Michigan Department of Agriculture on 23 February 2009 yielded the outbreak strain
    J Food Prot, 2011 · checked 2026-10-02
15. wchz-r1-09 · agency guidance
    Queso fresco-type cheeses, like queso fresco, queso blanco, and requesón, made from either pasteurized or unpasteurized milk.
    US FDA, Listeria (Food Safety for Moms-to-Be), page updated 2025-01-16 · checked 2026-10-02
16. wchz-r1-10 · cross-sectional survey
    Nearly 41% of respondents reported consuming cheese from non-regulated sources and 16.1% of respondents reported purchasing milk from non-regulated sources.
    BMC Public Health, 2018 · checked 2026-10-02
17. wchz-r1-16 · EU claim register
    POL-HC-6854 Calcium in dairy products Calcium naturally present in dairy products is important for weight management Dairy calcium has been shown to stimulate lipolysis. Consumption of dairy calcium aids weight loss. Dairy calcium modulates fat metabolism. Dairy calcium helps promote fat loss. Non-authorised
    EU Register on nutrition and health claims, claim POL-HC-6854, snapshot 2026-09-21 · checked 2026-10-02
18. wchz-r1-17 · EU claim register
    POL-HC-6305 Dairy products (milk, cheese and yoghurt) Three portions of dairy food everyday, as part of a balanced diet, may help promote a healthy body weight during childhood and adolescence. -/- Non-authorised
    EU Register on nutrition and health claims, claim POL-HC-6305, snapshot 2026-09-21 · checked 2026-10-02