A Great Diet Can Slow Aging

OK so this ones’ a stretch. Normally I report on some pretty real and hard science, new discoveries in cancer research etc. However, we also do a lot with nutrition and health.The information presented below is extremely questionable and just goes to show, that science can sometimes be manipulated to show whatever one desires as an outcome.

In this study done by Li-Qiang Qin — who works in the Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene at Soochow
University & School of Public Health in China suggests that eating approximately one and a half ounces of cheese daily could reduce the risk of heart disease and/or stroke.
Published in the European Journal of Nutrition, the new study is derived from 15 “observational” studies of cheese
and its effects on CV (cardio vascular) health.

It is true that cheese contains some nutrients (calcium, zinc, and vitamins A and B-12) that are good for you it is very high in saturated fats, that increase cholesterol leading to increased CV risk, stroke, or heart attack. On the other hand, this Chinese study alleges cheese may have the opposite effect. They looked at 15 observational studies in a Meta-Analysis as to if cheese affected total risk of cardio vascular problems leading to heart disease and/or stroke.

Over 200,000 people who were free of CV disease at the onset were followed for ten years.
Unbelievably, their observational investigation showed that regular cheese eaters vs non-cheese eaters were likely to have 18% less cardio vascular disease, 14% less coronal heart disease, and a 10% decrease in stroke risk. Therefore, decreased risk was more pronounced with those who ingested about 1.41 ounces of cheese daily.
While some may reveille in these findings, the study has many obvious flaws and misnomers. Mostly because its an observational study which allows for just about any bias one chooses to employ.

Secondly the two published studies on the subject were funded by Global Dairy Platform, Dairy Research Institute, and Dairy Australia. The study’s “scientists” receive help from Yili Group, a dairy company based in China.

While its unknown how much influence those entities had on the outcomes, it would be reasonable to assume that the initial premise on which the studies were based was irrevocable biased and slanted in the direction of a favorable outcome for the dairy industries. It would be somewhat akin to asking pig farmers to so a study on bacon and heart health. Needless to say, much more research needs to be done on both the topic and the studies themselves. As a final note, this author, the A$M and World Health agree with the American Heart Association (AHA) allowance of a maximum 5-6% of one’s daily calories come from saturated fats
and that low-fat dairy is better for all.