Opinion Cheese has been unfairly maligned. Now, will it help mental, physical health?

Almost immediately after it was published in the journal Neurology, a research paper invited the ire of naysayers. It made a broad claim: High-fat-content cheese — cheddar, gouda, brie, and the oh so smelly and delicious blues, from the underrated Stilton (yes, the English can make a decent cheese) to the mighty gorgonzola, which carries an ecosystem of microorganisms in every bite — reduces the risk of dementia. Its findings were based on analysing the eating habits of around 28,000 adults in Sweden. But even before turophiles could savour the moment as they would the softness of a camembert, there were caveats galore: Cheese alone isn’t a shield against dementia; the jury is still out on saturated fats in general; a balanced diet and exercise are key, and so on.

Cheese has been unfairly maligned. A growing body of research shows that it is sugar and not fat that is the main culprit for many lifestyle diseases, from obesity and hypertension to diabetes. In India, despite the prevalence of milk, cheese never quite took off — barring in some communities — because of the interdiction on fermenting/curdling “pure” milk. That said, the love of cheese has little to do with how healthy it is.

Advertisement

Plato, in his avuncular wisdom, had divided things that are “good” into three types: Things that are good in themselves and for their consequences (justice, health); good only in their consequences (medicine), and good in themselves (joy, pleasure). Lovers of cheese know that appreciating the sharpness, bitterness, tartness or stench of what is essentially milk gone off is like joy and pleasure — to be enjoyed in the moment, in full. No amount of research can turn it into medicine.