Evaluation of cholesterol and other nutrient parameters of Greek cheese varieties

Cholesterol contents and other nutrient parameters of Greek cheeses, namely water, fat, protein, ash, lactic acid, salt, caloric value and fatty acid content, were assayed using chemical and chromatographic methods. The cholesterol concentrations on fresh weight (f.w.) basis (mg/100 g) in soft (67.9, range 51.3–85.3), whey-soft (49.4, range 39.0–57.9), Manouri (99.5, range 83.9–115.2), semi-hard (90.8 range 81.0–102.6) and hard (93.1 range 76.2–110.5) categories were correlated to European cheese varieties. Respective mean values (g/100 g f.w.) of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids were: soft 17.2, 5.0, 0.7, whey-soft 11.5, 3.1, 0.6, Manouri 34.1, 9.4, 1.3, semi-hard 21.4, 18.3, 5.56, 1.03 and hard 21.6, 6.6, 1.2, while all pooled averages were 19.1, 5.5 and 0.9, respectively. Trans fatty acids ranged within 0.36–2.46 (g/100 g f.w.) with an average of 1.06 for all types. The main trans fatty acids (16:1, 18:1, 18:2) contents (g/100 g f.w.) are also given. t/protein ratio indicated a relatively higher fat content of Greek cheese if compared to similar cheese types of other European countries. A very strong correlation between cholesterol and fat content was found for pooled data, although the correlation was weaker within individual cheese varieties. In addition, a trend of decreasing cholesterol/fat and cholesterol/energy ratios with increasing fat content suggests that Greek cheeses may not be overloaded with cholesterol.