You never met a cheese plate you didn’t like. But eat too many slices of gouda and the inevitable guilt sets in. Not anymore, thanks to this study published in the British Journal of Nutrition that confirms: Eating cheese is actually good for your heart.
Here’s the deal: Researchers at Penn State University decided to explore the impact that cheese has on the cardiovascular system. The results of the study found that dairy—in particular the kind found in cheese—has a positive effect on your heart since milk proteins and dairy fat help increase blood flow to the body.
But that’s not all—researchers wanted to be sure that the sodium levels in cheese didn’t cancel out the dairy benefits. To do this, they asked one group of study participants to eat real cheese while the other group ate soy cheese and pretzels, all with the same amounts of sodium. The result? The group that ate the real cheese still had better blood pressure. Huzzah!
This calls for a celebration. Pass the brie. All of it.
