Cheese lovers, prepare to have your day made even better because apparently, your eating habits are helping you live longer.
Cheese is one of life's simple pleasures, and I like to change the old saying "never trust someone who doesn't like dogs" to "never trust someone who doesn't like cheese".
There is such a wide range of cheese, there must be something for everyone, surely?
For our vegan and lactose-intolerant readers, I can only apologize, and while I respect that you can't eat cheese for medical or moral reasons perhaps this upcoming bit of science may interest you.
According to a study published in the medical journal, The Lancet, researchers from McMaster University in Canada examined the habits of 130,000 individuals across 21 countries, aged between 35 and 70, shedding light on the surprising health benefits associated with cheese consumption.
The study's lead author, Mahshid Dehghan, an investigator in the Nutrition Epidemiology program at the Population Health Research Institute of McMaster University, emphasized the potential life-extending properties of cheese.
Dehghan urged the public not to dismiss dairy products due to their fatty acid content, pointing out the various beneficial compounds found in cheese.
"Dairy products contain a range of potentially beneficial compounds including specific amino acids, medium-chain and odd-chain saturated fats, milk fat globule phospholipids, unsaturated and branched-chain fats, natural trans fats, vitamin K1/K2, and calcium, and can further be fermented or contain probiotics, many of which may also affect health outcomes," stated Dehghan.
The comprehensive study classified participants based on their dairy consumption into two categories: reduced-fat dairy and full-fat dairy. Results indicated that consuming more than two servings a day of full-fat dairy, including cheese, correlated with significant reductions in the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Ian Givens, a professor of food chain nutrition at Reading University in the UK, stressed the importance of this study in challenging public perceptions of dairy. Givens highlighted that saturated fats from dairy, excluding butter, are not associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, unlike some other sources.
"It adds weight to the evidence that saturated fats from dairy [probably apart from butter] are not associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk," explained Givens.
For those who consumed less than 0.5 servings of dairy a day, the mortality rate rose to 44.4 percent overall, with cardiovascular disease accounting for five percent of that increase.
While the study acknowledges the need for further research to uncover the exact mechanisms behind dairy's health benefits, it suggests that enjoying that extra cheese on your pizza might actually contribute to better health and longevity.
I don't know about you, but receiving this news over the Christmas period is a huge relief.
