Ahh yes, the study the cheeseheads have been looking for!
Rejoice!
I didn't even have to be told this. I guess my body's constant desire for fatty cream and whole milk was just a natural desire to fight off dementia.
Here's the ABC report:
People who regularly ate higher-fat cheese and cream had a lower risk of developing dementia over 25 years, while low-fat dairy and other dairy foods showed no clear association, according to a new study.
Those who consumed 50 grams per day or more of high-fat cheese daily - roughly a third of a cup - had a lower overall risk of dementia, vascular dementia, a form of cognitive decline caused by impaired blood flow to the brain, according to the 25-year Swedish study of nearly 28,000 people published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People who averaged at least 20 grams of high-fat cream - about one and a half tablespoons - also showed a lower dementia risk, the study indicated.
Strong bones AND fighting dementia?
It sounds like we've just unlocked a superpower.
And it has to be high-fat cheese. The low-fat alternatives made no difference in the fight against dementia. But the fatty stuff, the good stuff?
Source and quality of dairy may matter too, Dr. Richard Isaacson, a neurologist specializing in dementia prevention at the Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, told ABC News.
'Not all cheese is created equal,' Isaacson said. 'What a cow eats determines what's in the milk — and that determines what's in the cheese', he added.
Isaacson explained that dairy from grass-fed cows, especially those who ate grass their entire lives, usually contain higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids.
'Omega-3 fatty acids are preferentially protective for the brain,' said Isaacson, adding that this is true particularly for people at risk of cognitive decline.
It sounds to me like some crunchy MAHA mom wrote this story.
But there's actual science to back it up.
(And, let's be real, a true crunchy mom would have done the study on raw milk.)
Unfortunately, eating high-fat cream can't prevent dementia in every case:
A certain genetic marker, however, proved that even the high fat cheese made no difference for some individuals.
Also, there's this:
But these findings do not prove that eating large amounts of high-fat cheese and cream prevents dementia, Sonestedt cautioned.
'It's an observational study. Cheese and cream may simply be markers of broader eating patterns and lifestyle factors. This is not a green light to dramatically increase intake.' she said.
Still, just in case…
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