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Cheese Lovers Rejoice, Maybe?

15 Replies

Denmark is known for its tasty dairy products. Unfortunately butter and cheese are very high in saturated fat. The connection between saturated fats and increased blood cholesterol (leading to heart issues) has been accepted by most health organizations world wide.

That’s why, when research comes out pointing out the opposite, our ears perk. Especially when the research is by Danish scientists, sponsored by the Danish dairy industry.

What did the European scientists discover?

That cheese and butter have different effects on our bloods LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. While adding butter to your diet does increase bad cholesterol levels, cheese does not. A group of 50 people were tested over a period of several months, some consuming butter, others cheese. The butter eaters had an increase of  7% in their LDL cholesterol levels.

Why would cheese, rich in saturated fat just like butter, have no effect?

The researchers hypothesize that it could be the high level of calcium in cheese, as compared to butter. Or maybe the high amount of protein. Or maybe they need to do some more research.

In any case, this is one small study, so don’t go triple cheese on your next pizza night. Rather, enjoy high quality cheese in small portions.

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  • Brian

    What about the fact that many people that suffer from heart disease actually have what is considered low or normal cholesterol? There are a number of studies that show that it’s not so much the AMOUNT of cholesterol, but it’s the TYPE of cholesterol. And not HDL vs LDL, but type A vs type B. Small and dense (bad) vs Large and fluffy (good). And that (quality sources of) saturated fat have been shown to produce the large and fluffy particles, while sugar and grains have been shown to produce the small dense particles. A number of health related blogs that I read regularly talk about this. Here’s one: . Have you seen any of this research? Or know this to be true or false?

    Also, as a side note, much of the research done that link heart disease to cholesterol is done by the drug manufacturers, so who do we trust in those scenarios?

    • Brian

      It appears the link didn’t go through… trying again:

    • carol

      1. Cholesterol levels are not the only risk factor for heart disease; 2. sugars and grains do not “produce” any cholesterol particles; 3. your man Chris K. is an acupuncturist, not a medical or nutrition professional; 4. the one study mentioned is a meta-data study where precise data on what people actually ate was most likely NOT provided (and humans are notoriously unreliable at recalling what they ate), so how much saturated fat they actually ate also was not accurately measured/available (that can only be done in a true lab-rat-type study where everything going into the subject’s mouth is measured 24/7). Meta-data studies in general are not reliable (or given much significance) for this kind of “conclusion.”

      • Brian

        Thanks for the response. It’s a very interesting debate that’ll likely go on for years, as it’s such a complex subject. Just a few thoughts in response:

        1. Yes, but many people talk about cholesterol as if it is the key risk factor.
        2. Well I guess I should have used the language have been linked to, or have been shown to increase, or something along those lines.
        3. What does “your man” mean? I was just sourcing one, and I don’t follow his words as the truth, which is why I was asking for any rebuttals. And acupuncturist is only part of his title according to his website, as he practices integrative medicine as well (focused on eastern medicine.) That’s sort of a mute point, as the author of this blog is not nutritionist either (nothing is mentioned in the about page, at least), but I find a lot of what he talks about is valuable information that can lead to a more healthy life. I guess he’s one of “my men” as well. (Thank you for what you do Hemi!) You don’t necessarily need to be a full fledged scientist to learn from studies that have been done and cull valuable information from them.
        4. When reading blogs online, and they reference a study, is there an easy way to tell if it is a meta-data study vs. a “true” study? Or are pretty much all diet studies done on humans meta-data? It’s enormously difficult to do these studies based on diet because of all of the variables that go into it, and I think we’re only at the beginning of figuring out what the “perfect” diet may be.

  • http://twitter.com/Cygnus_Richard Richard CygnusMobile

    The big issue with cheese, is not the saturated fat per se. It’s the other constituent parts that post a big health risk. The casein, IGF-1, calcium levels etc can cause harmful effects on the body leading to cancer. Milk also causes an immediate auto-immune response. 

    All dairy should be avoided.

    • Blueelagoon

      But milk has nourished many cultures around the world for thousands of years. Pasteurization might have ruined it but other than that how can milk be bad?

  • Foodista!

    I just completed a lengthy in-depth scientific study of Denmark and must now report a stunning discovery.  Every person in Denmark who consumed cheese during the years 1500-1700 is DEAD!!!  They all died from eating cheese, every last one of them! No survivors, not one!!!!

    Be warned: if you eat cheese you will eventually die. Only eat raw chard and sip bottled spring water – anything else will kill you dead, dead, dead, dead!!!!!!

  • http://www.facebook.com/OneLttle1 Tina Campbell

    You lost me at “sponsored by the Danish dairy industry…”

    • http://fit-geek.com Allie Q (Fit Geek)

      thisss.

  • http://www.kittyblog.net julia

    you do know this isn’t the only study that says sat fat is good for us right?

  • Lauren

    I’m thinking omega 3′s if cows grassfed? 

  • Anonymous

    Bear in mind that these figures do not apply to “cheese food” or “process cheese product”.

    • http://www.fooducate.com/blog Fooducate

      Agreed!

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  • http://twitter.com/JeffsPlate Jeff Rasmuss

    Just wondering if there has been any further research or additional information on this subject?