No, you’re not dreaming; This is grate news!
Scientific research has found a type of cheese that’s good for your health, specifically in promoting both bone and teeth growth and there’s also hope that further study will provide a connection between preventing diabetes and osteoporosis.
Data on the benefits of chowing down on Jarlsberg, a holed and mild Norwegian cheese from an eastern town with the same namesake, was recently published in the journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention.
The Scandinavian snack, in small amounts, was found to boost levels of the bone-building protein osteocalcin along with vitamin K2, which is also beneficial to bones and teeth, according to the study.
“This study shows that while calcium and vitamin D are known to be extremely important for bone health, there are other important factors at play such as vitamin K2, which is perhaps not as well known,” said professor Sumatra Ray, Executive Director of the NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, which cut the cheese on the research.
In the name of science, 66 “healthy women,” averagely aged 33, were given either a daily 57 grams of Jarlsberg or 50 grams of the K2 deficient cheese Camembert for six weeks.
Blood samples were then taken to study the subjects’ proteins and an amino acid chain called a peptide, and the Jarlsberg group saw the best results, according to the findings.
They were observed to show higher signs of bone renewal and increases in K2 after six weeks whereas the Camembert crew’s “indicators of bone health fell slightly.”
Cholesterol numbers also dropped in the Jarlsberg sector and the amount of glucose found in their red blood cells also dropped by about three percent. The Camembert women had their glucose rise two percent, a number which dropped when they were switched over to Jarlsberg.
Scientists behind the study pontificate that bacteria in the cheese produce the coenzyme DNHA which prior research suggests could prevent bone thinning while also boosting bone tissue growth, thus explaining a rise in osteocalcin.
Although, Ray advises to take these cheese figures with a grain of salt.
“This is a small study in young and healthy people….the findings need to be interpreted with great caution,” Ray said. “It shouldn’t be taken as a recommendation to eat a particular type of cheese.”