The news that all cheese lovers have been waiting for appeared a year ago and is still relevant. The sad truth until now was that cheese causes weight gain. However, a new study has shown that cheese is actually better for us than many thought.
Research from Ireland's University College Dublin concluded that people who eat a lot of cheese are slimmer than those who do not eat it and that it does not actually raise cholesterol levels.
Scientists studied the impact of consuming dairy products – milk, cheese, yogurt, butter – on 1,500 volunteers aged 18 to 90 and found that people who consumed more dairy had lower BMI, lower body fat percentages, narrower waists, and lower blood pressure. Paradoxically, participants who ate low-fat products tended to have higher cholesterol.
This contradicts current health recommendations that try to limit saturated fat intake (found in cheeses) to maintain cholesterol levels – high blood cholesterol is strongly linked to increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
The study is supported by recent research from various countries suggesting that saturated fat from cheese does not raise blood cholesterol due to the unique set of nutrients it contains.
“What we found was that tall people who consumed cheese had significantly higher saturated fat intake than those who did not eat cheese and low consumers, yet their LDL cholesterol levels did not change,” said Dr. Emma Feeney.
However, as she further mentions, it is necessary to consider other types of food we consume that may affect cholesterol and other health values.
For interest, the biggest cheese consumer is Denmark. Consumption per capita is 28.1 kg per year. The second largest consumer is Iceland, followed by Finland and, perhaps surprisingly, France in fourth place, with about one kilogram less consumption. At the bottom of the ranking is China. Priority cheese consumers are mainly Nordic countries, mainly because cheese benefits from cold in general. Cold weather also requires higher protein levels in the body, which cheese provides.
What do you say, will you have some Volovec? It’s summer, but the fridge will cool it immediately.
