A Taste For Cheese May Reveal Your Future Risk of Dementia
We don’t yet have a cure for dementia, but we do have a growing list of factors that can influence risk. exercisediet, drinking, social circlesand we can even add how you listen to music and now eat cheese.
Japanese food company Meiji Co. In a study commissioned by , researchers in Japan calculated the figures on 7,914 people aged 65 and over. Half of them said they ate cheese at least once a week, while half said they never ate it.
The health of these participants was followed for three years. 134 people from the group eating cheese advanced dementia (3.4 percent); Of those who avoided cheese, 176 developed dementia (4.5 percent). That’s a difference of about 10 or 11 extra cases per 1,000 people.
Relating to: 117-Year-Old Woman’s Diet Could Help Us All Live Longer
While this isn’t a huge change and shows an association rather than a cause-and-effect relationship, it adds to what we already know about diet and dementia and how eating habits are related to physical illness. and mental health generally.
“These findings are consistent with previous observational evidence linking dairy intake to cognitive health,” wrote geriatrics researcher Seungwon Jeong of Niimi University in Japan and colleagues. to write in published articles.
“Although the impact for each individual person is modest, on a population scale, particularly within countries, [like Japan] “Such differences with low cheese consumption could contribute meaningfully to dementia prevention strategies.”
Dementia diagnoses were more common in people who rarely or never ate cheese, but only slightly. (Jeong et al., nutrients2025)
The researchers took into account several factors that may influence dementia risk, such as age, gender, education level and income.
In a secondary analysis, they also controlled for healthy diets: Those who avoided cheese tended to have less healthy diets, which may contribute to the link. In this analysis, the relationship was less strong but still significant.
In other words, aside from the beneficial effects we know a nutritious diet can have, there seems to be something about cheese in particular that may prevent the development of dementia. This isn’t something researchers have specifically studied, but past studies offer some clues as to what might be going on here.
Cheese contains nutrients known to aid brain health; for example: including vitamin K. It is also rich in beneficial bacteria for the gut, a link many previous studies have found. gut health and dementia.
Fermented dairy products such as cheese good for heartand heart health is something that has been studied for a long time. is thought to be important at risk of dementia. As always with dementia, there are many different contributors acting together.
Subscribe to ScienceAlert’s free, verified newsletter
“Although this study did not include biomarker or mechanistic assessments, various nutritional properties of cheese may provide a plausible explanation for the observed association.” to write researchers.
Dementia declared essential public health priority by the United Nations and it is thought that at least 50 million people They are currently living with this condition worldwide. Of particular concern in Japan, where the research was conducted, this is likely to increase as the population ages.
Related: Strange Rocks Clinging to Mummies May Be the World’s Oldest Cheese
The statistics are certainly not strong enough to guarantee that a regular cheese snack will prevent dementia, but indications are that it may help. Researchers are eager to expand their studies to learn more.
“Further research is needed to clarify dose-response relationships, cheese subtypes, and underlying mechanisms.” to write researchers.
The research was published at: nutrients.
