Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cheese. Show all posts

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Can Cheese affect your Cholesterol?

Being one of those people with very few risk factors for heart disease, but who have had stents and also by-pass surgery, I tend to be fairly fanatical about “living the great life” with lots of exercise and fantastic food prepared by the young bride! But there are a few things that I have missed and secretly yearned for over the years, and one of them is Cheese!

Don’t get me wrong: I love what I eat and I never think of it as “healthy” eating, but as awesomely delicious and nutritious food. But there’s something just a little indulgent in say a fine grating of cheese on, perhaps, a sliced zucchini slipped under the grill until it is browned and then eaten whilst still hot!

Well, maybe that little indulgence could become a hope and then a reality because some kind physician at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark has looked at the effects of cheese and butter on Cholesterol levels. The results were that Cheese caused no increase in LDL or total Cholesterol, but with those who consumed the butter had a 7% higher level of LDL. Why there is a difference between cheese and butter is yet to be decided, but it may be to do with Cheese’s relatively high level of Calcium that may affect the excretion of fat by the gut.

But be warned: this does not mean that people with known heart disease should start loading their plated with seven different varieties of Cheese: it just means that once this research has been reviewed and expanded upon, if the Danish findings are confirmed, then that little morsel of Cheese will taste even more delicious.

And finally, just a quick “pat on the back” for our cousins across the ditch - as we in Australia describe New Zealanders! Apparently Kiwi fruit is better at lowering blood pressure than the good old apple a day: so well done guys! The downside is that you have to eat 3 of them a day - and they are pretty “tart” at the best of times! I think I’ll stick to Pomegranate juice!
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