Cheese might have health benefits that you didn't know existed: Study

Cheese which is rich and creamy in texture tastes delicious on a cracker with fresh fruit or sprinkled on top of a bowl of chilli The majority of Americans simply love itThe annual per capita consumption is 40 pounds or slightly more than 15 ounces per day suggests The Washington Post an American daily newspaper However when people talk about their fondness for cheese its often in a guilty way as in Cheese is my weaknessCheese is packed with nutrients like protein calcium and phosphorus and can serve a healthy purpose in the diet said Lisa Young an adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University according to The Washington PostAs per the outlet research shows that even fullfat cheese wont necessarily make you gain weight or give you a heart attack It seems that cheese doesnt raise or reduce your risk for chronic diseases such as heart disease and Type 2 diabetes and some studies show it might even be protectiveGood bacteria lower saturated fat risksIts easy to see why people might feel conflicted about cheese For years the US dietary guidelines have said eating lowfat dairy is best because wholemilk products such as fullfat cheese have saturated fat which can raise LDL bad cholesterol levels a known risk for heart disease Cheese has also been blamed for weight gain and digestive issues such as bloating It turns out though that cheese may have been misunderstoodYes its high in calories Some types have 100 calories or more per ounce And its rich in saturated fat So why is it okay for most people to eat it Cheese is more than its saturated fat content saID Emma Feeney an assistant professor at the Institute of Food and Health at University College Dublin who studies the effect cheese has on healthOldschool thinking on nutrition has been focused on individual nutrients such as fats or protein that either promote or prevent disease Its not clear that this is the wrong approach but nutrition experts are now putting more emphasis on the entire food and how its structure nutrients enzymes and other components interact with one anotherWhen milk is transformed into cheese the process changes the way the nutrients and other components in it are chemically arranged This has an effect on how its digested and processed by the body which can lead to health effects that are different from the effects of eating the same nutrients in another form such as butterIn 2018 Feeney led a sixweek clinical trial in which 164 people each ate an equal amount of dairy fat either in the form of butter or cheese and then switched partway through the study We found that the saturated fat in cheese did not raise LDL cholesterol levels to the same degree as butter did she saidExperts have varying theories about why the saturated fat in cheese is less harmful Some studies show that the mineral content in cheese particularly calcium may bind with fatty acids in the intestine and flush them out of the body Feeney said Other studies suggest that fatty acids called sphingolipids in cheese may increase the activity of genes that help with the bodys breakdown of cholesterolWhen cheese is made it gains some beneficial compounds too Vitamin K can form during the fermentation process saID Sarah Booth director of the Vitamin K Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University in Boston The vitamin is important for blood clotting and bone and blood vessel healthAnd as a fermented food both raw and pasteurized cheeses contain good bacteria that can be beneficial to human gut microbiota says Adam Brock vice president of food safety quality and regulatory compliance for Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin This good bacteria found mostly in aged cheeses such as cheddar and Gouda help break down food synthesize vitamins prevent bacteria that cause illness from getting a foothold and bolster immunity Weight gain lactose misunderstandings Cheese also seems to reduce the risk of weight gain and several chronic diseasesWeight gain Cheese is a concentrated source of calories But studies suggest that you dont need to skip cheese to keep the scale steady In one published in the New England Journal of Medicine researchers set out to determine which foods were linked to weight gain by following 120877 men and women in the United States for 20 years looking at their weight every four years Cheese wasnt associated with either gain or loss even for people who increased the amount of it they ate during the study One reason cheese may help control weight is that it may reduce appetite more than other dairy productsCardiovascular disease A large metaanalysis of 15 studies published in the European Journal of Nutrition that looked at cheeses effect on cardiovascular disease found that people eating the most 15 ounces per day had a 10 percent lower risk than those who didnt eat any Other analyses have found that cheese doesnt seem to affect heart disease risk either wayDiabetes and hypertension Cheese and fullfat dairy also seem to be linked to a lower risk of both In a study of more than 145000 people in 21 countries the researchers found that eating two daily servings of fullfat dairy or a mix of fullfat and lowfat was linked to a 24 and 11 per cent reduced risk of both conditions compared with eating none Eating only lowfat dairy slightly raised the risk And among people who didnt have diabetes or hypertension at the start of the nineyear study those who ate two servings of dairy each day were less likely to develop the diseases during the studyLactose intolerance Lactose a sugar in milk can be difficult for some people to digest leading to diarrhoea bloating and other gastrointestinal symptoms But the bacteria used to make cheese digests most of the lactose in the milk says Jamie Png of the American Cheese Society Much of the lactose that remains is found in the whey which gets separated from the curds toward the end of the cheesemaking process and is drained off If youre sensitive to lactose stick to hard or aged cheese such as cheddar provolone Parmesan blue Camembert and Gouda and minimize fresh soft cheese like ricotta and cottage cheeseHow much to eat of itEven though cheese itself doesnt appear to have negative effects on health how you incorporate it into your overall diet matters In much of the research suggesting a neutral or beneficial effect the highest amount of cheese people ate each day on average was about 15 ounces but in some cases it was up to 3 ounces An ounce of cheese is about the size of your outstretched thumbIn some studies the health benefits of cheese were found to be the greatest when it replaced a less healthful food like red or processed meats So theres a big difference between crumbling some blue cheese over a salad and serving up a pepperoni pizza with double cheese Incorporating cheese into a Mediterraneanstyle diet where you also include fruits veggies whole grains and other foods known to lower disease risk is going to be the most beneficial to your overall health Young saidFor those watching their sodium intake cheese can be pretty salty The salt acts as a preservative If youre eating about an ounce a day its not a huge concern Most types give you between 150 and 300 milligrams of sodium per ounce The daily value is no more than 2300 mg Eat more though and the sodium can add upAs per The Washington Post the form cheese takes may also influence how it affects health Many of the studies on cheese and health use cheese in a nonmelted form Feeney said adding We still dont know how melting or cooking affects the health outcomes for example eating cheese on pizza or in cooked dishes like casserolesRead More Makar Sankranti 2023 Jaggerysesame cookies Mumbai chefs share unique recipes using the ingredientsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom 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