Cheese, a guilty pleasure for many of us, has seen its health status take a dramatic shift in recent years, and may now be linked to mental health benefits.

Cheese has been getting a much better rap than it used to.

Given that most cheeses are an amalgam of salt, fat and bacteria, they’re perceived as a ready-made heart attack. Or at the least, a heavy belly.

Yes, cheese was an excellent source of calcium, but so was low fat milk.

Hence, the message was that it was probably best avoided if you have high cholesterol, and otherwise consume sparingly.

Then, in 2019, seemingly out of the blue, the Heart Foundation made a shock announcement. Firstly, most people could eat as many eggs as they liked and not keel over from a coronary.

Secondly, the foundation removed its restriction on eating cheese “for healthy Australians”.

While the evidence was mixed, “this type of dairy was found to have a neutral effect, in that it doesn’t increase or decrease your risks for heart disease or stroke”.

In 2020, an otherwise glum year, Iowa State University researchers found that “cheese protected against age-related cognitive problems and red wine was related to improvements in cognitive function”.

This was a broad survey of foods and late-life mental acuity that concluded:

“Cheese, by far, was shown to be the most protective food against age-related cognitive problems, even late into life.”

A 2023 study found that Chinese students who consumed cheese and other dairy products weathered the psychological stress of COVID-19 lockdowns better than those who didn’t.

The whey to happiness

The cheese paradox – maybe not so great for the heart for many people, but good for the brain – caused a stir this week in a new study investigating wellbeing and ageing.

The short version: Doing things that make you happy is just as important as maintaining your physical health when it comes to longevity and remaining resilient against the stress of ageing.

The finding that news outlets all over were most excited by was that increases in the intake of cheese and fruit may lead to improvements in wellbeing and healthier ageing.

Overall, the study found that: “Whether you’re rich or poor, mental wellbeing may be the most important factor in determining how healthy you are as you age.”

Of course, having money and better education is an obvious buffer against many stressors. And it’s much easier to eat healthily if you have money in the bank. Especially when you’re in the middle of a cost of living crisis.

But money doesn’t mean you make smart choices.  As usual, smoking and staying put on the couch were prime factors in undermining one’s wellbeing, on situ and as time passes.

The cheese finding appears to have been stumbled upon randomly.

How the study was designed

According to a statement from the journal Nature Human Behaviour, which published the findings: The researchers were from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. They looked at eight different genetic datasets, including a total of 2.3 million Europeans.

They used a technique called ‘Mendelian randomisation’. This  uses DNA to see whether one thing causes another, rather than them just being linked.

The researchers found that people with better mental wellbeing tended to be healthier as they aged. Healthy ageing was characterised by improved resilience, higher self-rated health, and longevity.

The authors say their findings highlight the importance of integrating mental health support into public health policies and ageing research.