Written By: Debjani Arora | Published : September 5, 2018 10:04 AM IST
Cheese can help lower cholesterol. © Shutterstock
High cholesterol is a serious problem it increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and one s chances of suffering from heart attack and stroke. However, cholesterol is just one of the many risk factors that can affect cardiovascular health but if the right steps are not taken to control rising cholesterol levels the consequences could be worse. High cholesterol leads to plaque deposition on the walls of the arteries that restrict smooth blood flow and circulation making your heart to pump harder and overwork. Over a period of time, your heart muscles can tire out and become dysfunctional. This is why it is necessary to keep a tab on your cholesterol levels. The foods we eat can go a long way in maintaining our cholesterol levels. In fact, about one-third of the total cholesterol that we need comes from our dietary sources and two-thirds of it is manufactured by the body in the liver. So if we are eating the wrong kinds of foods chances are it would increase LDL or bad cholesterol levels and decrease HDL or good cholesterol that has a protective effect on cardiac health.
For long it was thought that eating dairy foods that are high in fat content can come in the way of cholesterol management and make it difficult to lower LDL or bad cholesterol. But a new study claims that certain kinds of saturated fats might not only be okay to eat, but they might actually lower your cholesterol levels. So, gone are the days when cheese was taken out of your food list to help in managing cholesterol levels. Even with the good amount of saturated fat in it cheese might be able to lower cholesterol levels, according to the study.
The lead author of the study Emma Feeney reportedly said to a section of media that we need to stop thinking about foods in terms of their fat and their saturated fat content, and start thinking about them as a whole food. The study looked at around 164 overweight Irish adults and found that the people who consumed full-fat Irish cheddar cheese (up to 120 grams a day!) while limiting the other dairy products to just two ounces of milk per day, did not gain weight. They further observed that it lowered both their total cholesterol and levels of so-called "bad" LDL cholesterol. Feeney concluded the study by recommending that people go off and eat 120 grams of cheese every day. But keep in mind you have to limit consumption of other dairy products and stick to the recommended portion size.
