Study: Aged Cheese Lowers Blood Pressure
Eating cheese does not increase risk of heart attack or strokes, say researchers
The
belief that consuming too much cheese is harmful to your health is
wrong, according to experts, after finding no link between eating dairy
products and the elevated risk of a heart attack or stroke.
The
findings challenge the view among many health-conscious eaters that
foodstuffs such as full-fat cheese, milk and yogurts could be harmful
because of their high saturated fat content.
"There's
been a lot of publicity over the last five to 10 years about how
saturated fats increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and a belief
has grown up that they must increase the risk, but they don't," Ian
Givens, professor of food chain nutrition at Reading University, told
The Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.
An
international team of researchers, including Givens, analyzed results
from 29 different medical studies carried out over the last 35 years,
using information based on almost 1 million participants. The team's
findings were published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
"There's
quite a widespread but mistaken belief among the public that dairy
products in general can be bad for you, but that's a misconception.
While it is a widely held belief, our research shows that that's wrong,"
Givens added.
'Unhelpful and misleading'
Experts
are divided as to whether reducing the amount of saturated fats in
one's diet could improve overall health and decrease the risk of heart
disease.
Mike
Knapton, doctor and associate medical director at the British Heart
Foundation (BHF), described such claims made about saturated fats as
"unhelpful and misleading."
"Decades
of research have proved that a diet rich in saturated fat increases
'bad' (LDL) cholesterol in your blood, which puts you at greater risk of
a heart attack or stroke," Knapton said in a statement published on the
BHF website.
Meanwhile,
the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) also advises consumers to reduce
the amount of saturated fats they eat because high levels of these same
fats can increase cholesterol in the blood and subsequently raise the
risk of cardiovascular disease.
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