Can Cheese Save Your Brain?
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What if the thing protecting your brain from dementia is hiding in your fridge drawer? Dementia is a broad term for various brain conditions that negatively impact memory, thinking, behavior, and emotions, and affect millions of people worldwide. There is currently no cure for dementia, but researchers continue to tirelessly search for ways to reduce risk and lessen the harm of brain-related diseases. In the last few decades, many conclusions about preventing dementia have focused on dietary changes targeting various vitamins and fatty acids, with a more recent study examining the relationship between cheese consumption and brain health. However, in a scientific world where bias and selective reporting can influence outcomes, it’s important to note that these results may not always be as they seem.
In a study based in Sweden, researchers tracked nearly 28,000 people over 25 years and analyzed their eating habits to better understand the relationship between full-fat cheese consumption and brain health. During that time period, over 3,000 participants were diagnosed with dementia. However, among a group of individuals without known genetic risks for brain-related diseases, those who ate over 50 grams of full-fat cheese per day demonstrated a 13%-17% lowered risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. Additionally, those who consumed over 20 grams of full-fat cream per day also demonstrated a lower risk for developing dementia as a whole, which ranged from 16%-24%. Of course, these results are incredibly shocking, since they directly contradict the health system's advice encouraging people to switch to low-dairy diets to protect heart health. Not so fast, though. These results don’t just automatically suggest consuming large amounts of dairy to prevent dementia. It’s crucial to consider other dietary factors examined in the study, including the fact that higher milk consumption was associated with lower cognitive test scores, whereas fish intake was associated with higher scores.
Additionally, these types of experiments have significant limitations in their reliance on individual participants' reports of eating patterns. Changes in their memory can affect both dietary habits and recall of what they’ve eaten, potentially leading to inaccurate results. Furthermore, it’s important to note that long-term dietary habits matter much more than individual ingredients. For example, the Mediterranean diet, which is known for its reduced risk of dementia, includes dairy products like cheese and cream, complemented by fish, whole-grain foods, and vegetables. While full-fat cheese does contain several nutrients and vitamins vital for brain health, factors such as dietary habits, balanced meals, and limited dairy consumption are more important for protecting brain health than prioritizing high-fat cheese.
The field of nutritional studies has long faced challenges in conducting randomized controlled trials, and this study is no exception. Thus, conclusions are drawn from non-randomized observational studies, which inevitably introduce bias and inaccuracies in the results. However, it’s important to note that most of these researchers aren’t intentionally creating this bias; it’s a guaranteed result of the nature of the studies themselves. With such complex modern diets and hidden correlations among different foods, it’s nearly impossible to isolate a single dietary factor and analyze it properly. So, what can scientists do about it? Organizations have sets of recommendations and criteria that they suggest authors of these studies follow whenever possible. Examples include assessing the risk of bias using an appropriate criteria system, comparing the risk of bias to an RCT, and including researchers with substantive knowledge in that particular field. In this way, everyone can help ensure that the scientific community remains as accurate as possible by reducing the risks of bias and selective reporting in major research studies.
