Tis the season for the cheese boards and we couldn't be happier about it. If you're crazy for cheddar or mad for mozzerella we have fantastic news.
Researchers in Soochow University, China have pooled the results for 15 long term studies to prove that eating cheese is actually good for you in the long term.
The study concluded that eating 40 grams of cheese every day lowers your risk of heart disease by 14 percent and we are all here for it.
Despite cheese still being high in saturated fatty acids, the health benefits appear to be outweighing the negatives that we've previously been lead to believe. The study said:
“It’s unclear how long-term consumption affects the development of cardiovascular disease. This study suggests an inverse association between cheese and health.”
The discovery follows a study released this year by the UCD Department of Agriculture and Food Science,which found that Irish people who consume large amounts of cheese are less likely to develop high cholesterol than those who don't.
According to the UCD study, this "demonstrates that the saturated fat from cheese, does not adversely impact blood cholesterol profiles due to the unique set of nutrients it contains."
According to RTÉ, Irish people are the third largest consumers of milk in Europe, chugging about 500 million litres per year. As a nation, we love cheese so much that we've actually overtaken France in amount of cheese consumed per capita. Yes, really.
However, the studies recommend sticking to sticking to hard, low-fat varieties of cheese where possible.
Grab your cheese knives, ladies, we're cracking open that guilt-free brie!
