Dementia Research Will Make Cheese Lovers Happy

Is it an excuse to gorge on cheddar and Gouda? It is not. But a large Swedish study suggests a link between high-fat cheeses and a lower risk of dementia, reports HealthDay News. To be clear, the researchers aren't saying the cheese is responsible for the lower risk, but they did see an association in their years-long study. The details:

• The study published in Neurology is based on a study of nearly 28,000 people in Sweden, average age 58, who were followed for about 25 years starting in the 1990s, reports USA Today.
• Those who reported eating 50 grams or more a day of high-fat cheese (those with more than 20% of fat such as cheddar, Gouda, and Brie) had a lower risk of developing dementia than those who ate less than 15 grams daily. Fifty grams is about two slices of cheddar or a half-cup of shredded cheese.
• By 2020, about 10% of those in the 50-grams-or-more camp developed dementia, vs 13% of the others.

• Researchers also saw reduced dementia in those who consumed at least 20 grams of high-fat cream (with 30% to 40% fat) daily.
• The study did not see similar benefits from butter, milk, low-fat dairy, or fermented milk.
• One takeaway: "This does not prove that cheese prevents dementia, but it does challenge the idea that all high-fat dairy is harmful for the brain," study co-author Emily Sonestedt of Sweden's Lund University tells USA Today. "For most people, it means that enjoying cheese in reasonable amounts, as part of a balanced diet, does not appear to be harmful and may even be linked to some benefit."
• A caution: The New York Times notes that cheese and cream are high in saturated fats, and current recommendations urge people to go easy on their consumption. Its coverage ends with a doctor's recommendation to eat other foods shown to improve brain health such as fruits, nuts, legumes, veggies—the Mediterranean or MIND diets, essentially.