Study links daily consumption of full-fat cheese to lower risk of dementia |Health and science

People who ate more than 50 grams of high-fat cheese such as cheddar, brie or gouda each day in the 1990s had a lower risk of...

A Swedish study found a statistically significant relationship between the consumption of whole cheese and a lower risk of dementia, something seen with cream.People who ate these dairy products frequently for 25 years had a lower risk of dementia, a finding that matches other previous observations.

According to a study published in the journal Neuroscience, people who ate more than 50 grams of fat per day in the 1990s had a lower risk of developing dementia 25 years later.

Studies also show that those who drink heavy cream daily have a lower risk of dementia compared to those who don't.

The researchers aimed to investigate whether there is an association between consumption of high- and low-fat dairy products and the risk of all causes of dementia, Alzheimer's disease and vascular disease (VD) using Sweden's largest database, the Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort (MDC).Very Alzheimer's.

"We found that higher consumption of cheese and cream is associated with a lower risk of dementia, independent of lifestyle factors, other dairy products and diet quality," said the researchers led by Yufeng Du, from the Department of Epidemiology and Statistics, School of Public Health, Lanzhou University, Gansu, China, and the Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Lund University, Sweden.

Consumption of high-fat cheese was associated with a lower risk of AD among noncarriers of the APOE 4 gene, while consumption of other dairy products was not associated with risk of dementia of any cause.

The authors conclude that high consumption of cheese and cream, but not other dairy products, is associated with a lower risk of all-cause dementia, and high-fat cheese consumption is associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's in people who do not carry APOE 4 very much, and they suggest confirming these findings in people other than Swedes.

The results are consistent with other studies, one from Finland that showed a lower risk of dementia with higher cheese consumption, another from the UK that linked a lower risk with higher consumption, and four other cross-sectional studies in Japan, the Netherlands and the UK that consistently support that higher cheese consumption was associated with better functioning in older adults.

"Our study confirms and extends the previous evidence with the longest follow-up period to date and the highest number of dementia cases, and suggests that the observed association is due to higher fat cheese. In a quantitative relationship, a lower risk of all dementias is observed if the daily consumption of fat cheese is more than 50 grams per day, which is not difficult.

Cheese has been classified as a junk food and should be limited, mainly due to concerns over its high saturated fat content.However, other studies show that full-fat cheese did not cause negative changes in lipid profiles and, in fact, provided significant benefits to animals compared to low-fat cheese and butter and caused beneficial changes in the gut microbiome.It was also associated with a lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure, both risk factors for dementia."Differences in fat content, other nutrients (for example vitamin K2) and dietary intake between high-fat and low-fat cheeses may explain this protective relationship," they note.High fat cheese consumption can be a sign of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

"Due to the lack of effective methods for treating dementia, it is therefore critical to identify preventive strategies by modifying risk factors." In this sense, "dairy products, an important component of the traditional Western diet, have been extensively studied for their association with various health outcomes. Although their association with dementia remains controversial."

They note that total milk consumption showed a protective relationship with dementia in Asian populations but not in European populations, and it is important to examine each specific dairy product separately in relation to dementia risk."Cheese appears to have the greatest potential for protection against cognitive decline. The link between dementia and cream consumption has not yet been studied, while limited evidence for milk and yogurt suggests no link.

Although the above studies provide useful information, they have limitations, some of which explain Tara Spears-Jones, director of the Brain Science Research Center at the University of Edinburgh, head of the UK Dementia Research Institute and former president of the British Neuroscience Association.Diet and other lifestyles have changed in those 25 years,” notes SMC UK.

On the other hand, “there is strong evidence across the field that healthy diet, exercise, and cognitive-enhancing activities (education, stimulating work and hobbies, etc.) can increase the brain's resistance to dementia-causing diseases.

Navid Sattar, professor of cardiometabolic medicine and honorary doctor at the University of Glasgow (UK), agrees, noting that "people who consumed more cheese and high-fat cream had, on average, higher levels of education, raising the possibility of residual confounding, as other 'healthy' characteristics of education may explain higher levels of cheese or cream characteristics, not higher levels of cheese or cream."forward

We already know a number of well -established and tested factors that reduce the risk of dementia, such as maintaining healthy blood pressure, weight management, and preventing heart disease or stroke.