A reason to say ‘cheese’

AS DELICIOUS as it is, cheese has a reputation for being bad for you but now research has given us the news we’ve been waiting for.

Aged cheeses like Cheddar, Brie and Parmesan could help boost life expectancy and prevent liver cancer.

The study, from Texas A&M University, found these cheeses contain a compound known as spermidine which stops damaged liver cells from replicating.

As such, it has the ability to prevent liver fibrosis – the accumulation of scar tissue that occurs in most diseases of the organ – and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common form of liver cancer.

After analysing spermidine treatment in mice over their entire lifespan, researchers found their life expectancy increased by 25%.

And while further research is required to determine whether this could translate for humans, if it did, it could help us reach 100 years old rather than the current life expectancy of 81.

The scientists also found that consuming foods like mushrooms, soya, legumes and whole grains regularly can also have the same life-extending effects.

Leyuan Liu, an assistant professor at Texas A&M University, said: “Severely cutting the number of calories consumed, restricting the amount of methionine (a type of amino acid found in meat and other proteins) in the diet and using the drug rapamycin have been shown to truly prolong the lifespans of vertebrates.

“But eating less and not eating meat will not be welcomed by the general population, while rapamycin has shown to suppress the human immune system – therefore, spermidine may be a better approach,” Liu said. – The Independent