Canadian Study Shows Good News For Cheese Lovers

Cheese is a food that is vastly popular but whether it is good or bad for you has been questionable. While cheese is high in calcium and is a good source of protein, it is also high in saturated fat. That’s why people with high cholesterol have been told to only eat low-fat varieties. This may no longer be the case. A recent study from the University of Toronto is challenging the idea that eating full-fat cheese is bad for your health.

Cheese is made from milk, salt, bacteria, and rennet, according to Everyday Health, and has been produced for more than 4,000 years. The US department of agriculture recommends that adults eat three dairy servings every day and cheese is the choice of many. In fact, more than a third of milk produced in the US is used in the production of cheese and Americans eat around 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of cheese a year. But it may not have to be low-fat and low-taste.

The University of Toronto Study
The study that was led by the University of Toronto professor Harvey Anderson  and was published in The Journal of Nutrition, set out to see if the dietary guidelines in Canada, US, and around the world recommending low-fat cheese is necessary, according to a news release from the university.

During the study, 74 adults who met specific criteria were randomly assigned one of three diets: a low-dairy with less calories, an energy-neutral with three dairy servings per day, or an unrestricted diet with three dairy servings a day.

After 12 weeks, the researchers did not observe any meaningful difference in weight and cholesterol levels but the participants who consumed more dairy saw improvements in blood pressure and higher levels of calcium, vitamin D, and protein.

“Those that had three servings of dairy didn’t have adverse levels of blood cholesterol or lipids or evidence of insulin resistance,” Anderson said in the news release.

The Take on the Study
While limiting high-fat foods is still sound advice, according to USA TODAY, it doesn’t apply to cheese because of the way saturated fats in dairy break down in the body in a process called the Dairy Matrix Hypothesis. This is good news for seniors who may not be getting enough nutrients. Eating dairy products like cheese could help older adults meet their nutritional needs without increasing the risk of chronic diseases like diabetes.

While the number of participants in the study was small and it only lasted 12 weeks, the research showed that full-fat cheese, milk, and yogurt, may not have the negative effects on cholesterol and vascular health as previously believed.

With new research and dietary recommendations frequently changing, Anderson offered this advice in the news release. “Keep it simple, eat a variety of foods and not too much of anything,” he shared.