Can eating cheese lower your dementia risk? A new study says maybe

"Don't beat yourself up if you do some serious damage on a cheese plate during holiday festivities this year: You just may do your future self a favor. A new study has found that eating nearly 2 ounces or more of high-fat cheese each day has been associated with a 16% lower risk of dementia, according to the study published this week in ."

"The study's findings indicate that Swedes who ate more cheese with a fat content exceeding 20%-which includes many varieties of cheddar, gouda, and blue cheese, among others-had a lower risk of all-cause dementia. The researchers didn't find a similar link with other high-fat dairy products and noted that "further confirmation of these findings in diverse populations is warranted.""

"It might be tempting to give yourself permission to go wild on full-fat cheese "for your brain," though your waistline could pay the price. The study's authors said their findings require "caution in interpretation," something that other experts were quick to do. The researchers only captured the dietary habits of participants at one point in 1991 and didn't follow up with the majority of them over the course of the next 25 years."

Nearly 28,000 adults in Malmö, Sweden were followed for roughly 25 years to examine links between dairy intake and dementia risk. Eating nearly 2 ounces or more of high-fat cheese (fat content exceeding 20%) per day was associated with a 16% lower risk of all-cause dementia. No similar association appeared for other high-fat dairy products. The reported cheese amount equals less than a handful of diced cubes. Dietary data were collected at a single time point in 1991 without repeated follow-up, prompting caution about the robustness and generalizability of the association.

Read at Fast Company