Go ahead, have that hunk of cheddar or slice of Brie – it may protect you from dementia, new research suggests.
The findings are from a study published Dec. 17 in Neurology , the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Researchers in Sweden analyzed dietary data from about 27,600 participants in the Malmö Diet and Cancer study , who were followed for an average of 25 years.
People in the study who consumed 50 grams or more of high-fat cheese daily had a 13% lower risk of developing dementia, compared to those who ate less than 15 grams daily, researchers found. Those who reported consuming more high-fat cream had a 16% lower risk of dementia, compared to those who had none, researchers said.
While the study suggests an association between high-fat cheese and high-fat cream and a lower risk of dementia, it does not prove that consuming those foods leads to lower risks.
"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, a nutrition researcher at Lund University in Sweden, where the Malmö Diet and Cancer study is based, told 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."
So, the findings shouldn't be taken as a reason to gorge yourself on Gouda. The "possible benefit of high-fat cheese" could arise because "it is a less harmful choice than red and processed meats," said Dr. Tian-Shin Yeh, physician and nutritional epidemiologist at Taipei Medical University in Taiwan, in an accompanying editorial .
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The Swedish researchers wanted to investigate previous findings from various international studies that suggest cheese and dairy have some association with dementia.
About 25% of the participants – average age of 58 at the study's outset – reported consuming 50 grams of high-fat cheese daily, or about two slices of cheddar or half a cup of shredded cheese, while 27% ate 15 grams or less.
During the study, 3,208 people, or about 12%, developed dementia. But among those who consumed more high-fat cheese, only 10% developed dementia over the decades covered by the study. Of those who ate less, 13% developed dementia, researchers said.
People who ate more high-fat cheese – other types include Brie and Gouda – also had a 29% lower risk of vascular dementia, researchers found. Another finding: there was a lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease among those who ate more high-fat cheese, but only among those who did not have the APOE e4 gene , which is a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia .
People who consumed 20 grams (about 1.4 tablespoons) or more of high-fat cream were found to have a lower dementia risk.
However, other dairy products, including low-fat cheese, low-fat cream, high- or low-fat milk, butter or fermented milk products such as yogurt and buttermilk, were not associated with lower dementia risk, researchers said.
That result from the study "makes a fairly strong case that dairy fat per se is not associated with dementia," Yeh said in the editorial.
