Dementia Risk: Eating High-Fat Cheese and Cream May Protect Your Brain Against Cognitive Decline

The holiday season is here, and soon cheese will become among the most sought-after foods – whether it is a yummy cheese ball, a fancy baked Brie, or a cheese-laden gift basket. And cheese is not just

food that satiates your taste buds, but can even save your brain health. According to a new study, eating more high-fat cheese and high-fat cream can help you lower the risk of dementia - a general term for declining brain function, causing memory loss, impaired thinking, and behavioral changes that disrupt daily life. The research, published in the journal Neurology, talks about the relationship between fat and brain health. “For decades, the debate over high-fat versus low-fat diets has shaped health advice, sometimes even categorizing cheese as an unhealthy food to limit,” said senior researcher Dr Emily Sonestedt, associate professor of nutrition at Lund University in Sweden. “Our study found that some high-fat dairy products may actually lower the risk of dementia, challenging some long-held assumptions about fat and brain health,” she said in a news release. High-fat cheeses are loaded with more than 20 per cent fat, which includes varieties like cheddar, Brie, and Gouda. According to researchers, high-fat creams like whipping and clotted creams typically contain 30 to 40 per cent fat.

How does cheese help keep dementia away?

Packed with vitamin K2, antioxidant components like selenium and vitamin E, protein and amino acids, cheese helps keep your blood vessels healthy, support calcium balance, and reduce inflammation – all the factors that are instrumental in protecting your brain and lowering the risk of dementia. Cheese generally contains more bioactive peptides or probiotics, and so, it is possible that a higher proportion of fermented cheese intake shows a stronger association with cognitive health. Cheese is also a powerhouse of lactic acid bacteria, which boost cognitive function.

How was the study conducted?

Researchers said they analyzed data from almost 30,000 people in Sweden with an average age of 58 years. They were tracked for more than 25 years, during which more than 3,200 developed dementia. Participants gave food diaries of what they ate for a week, answered questions about how often they ate certain foods during the past few years, and talked with researchers about how they prepared their food. The research team compared the brain health of people who ate 50 grams or more high-fat cheese daily — about two slices of cheddar or a half-cup of shredded cheese — to those who ate less than 15 grams a day. Results showed that those who ate more high-fat cheese had a 13 per cent lower risk of developing dementia than those who ate the least. Researchers said those who ate more high-fat cheese specifically had a 29 per cent lower risk of vascular dementia, which is caused by impaired blood flow to the brain.