Though cheese and other non-yogurt products related to lactose have been greatly maligned for years over their high fat, a new study that delved deeper into the French diet found a correlation between cheese and weight loss - though this doesn't necessarily mean that anyone on a diet should eat this milk product excessively.
Cheese is one of the basis of the Mediterranean diet, which many studies have praised for its heart benefits as well as how it can even help live longer, plus the fact that people who've followed it can continue to benefit from it a whole year after stopping it - but now, a new study shows that specifically cheese and weight loss are also related.
According to Science Daily, the cheese weight loss study was recently published on the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry and pursued by researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus Universities in Denmark, under the name "Metabolomics Investigation To Shed Light on Cheese as a Possible Piece in the French Paradox Puzzle," though admittedly partially funded by the Danish Council for Strategic Research, Arla Foods and the Danish Dairy Research Foundation.
News Every Day reports that the cheese weight loss study compared urine and fecal samples from 15 different subjects that regularly followed a diet containing milk and cheese or butter for two weeks, consuming no other dairy products in the same amount of time.
According to The Independent, the results in the cheese weight loss study found that those who consumed cheese or milk during these two weeks ended up with noticeably different bacteria in their stomach - particularly butyrate, an anti-inflammatory fatty acid that can ultimately increase the production of energy and has been linked to be able to fight obesity in some instances.
The study was based on the French diet, heavily relying on cheese.
However, the researchers noted that this doesn't mean people should overeat cheese, but rather coined the term "French paradox," meaning that the people in he country also follow a balanced diet in general.
