Health Effects of Swiss Cheese

Even small servings of Swiss cheese have nutrients that are good for your bones, your eyesight and your immune system. A small 1 oz. serving is roughly the same amount of cheese found in a 1-inch cheese cube, a small slice of quiche or a sandwich in which cheese is not the primary ingredient. In addition to these uses, consider adding Swiss cheese to casseroles and salads.

Rolls of swiss cheese on cutting board (Image: tycoon751/iStock/Getty Images)

Protein

A 1 oz. serving of Swiss cheese provides 7.63 g. of protein. The U.S. Department of Agriculture assessed that adults need 0.8 g. of protein per kg. of body weight. One ounce of cheese provides 16 percent of the daily protein that a 130 lb. person needs and 10 percent of the protein that a 200 lb. one requires.

Fat and Sodium.

One ounce of Swiss cheese has 7.88 g. of fat. Swiss is a low-fat cheese when compared to cheddar, which has 9.4 g. of fat. Another good low-fat cheese commonly found at sandwich counters is provolone, which has only 7.45 g. of fat.

Swiss is also an excellent choice if you are watching your sodium. One oz. of Swiss has only 54 mg. of sodium. That's 306 percent less than cheddar, which has 176 mg. sodium.

Minerals

Like most dairy products, Swiss cheese is good for your bones. One ounce of Swiss cheese provides 224 mg. calcium, which is almost 25 percent of the recommended dietary allowance. While it has a negligible amount of iron, this serving provides almost 10 percent of the RDA of selenium.

Kidney patients who are on low potassium diets can enjoy this cheese; it has only 22 mg. of potassium. To put this in perspective, the National Kidney Foundation defines a high-potassium food as one with more than 200 mg. potassium. However, those patients who also require a low-phosphorus diet may have to enjoy this food very sparingly; the 161 mg. of phosphorus may be difficult to fit into the low-phosphorus diet that many kidney patients require.

Vitamins

With no vitamin C and only a scant about of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, Swiss cheese might not seem like a nutritionally sound food. However, with 235 IU of vitamin A, it provides approximately 10 percent of the RDA for women. The Linus Pauling Institutes describes vitamin A as "the anti-infective vitamin." It fosters the healthy development of different types of white blood cells.