Why can cheese control blood sugar?

June 11, 2019 / BIOON / - cheese is a nutritious and delicious food, isn't it? On the one hand, cheese is an excellent source of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, vitamin A, B2 and B12, let alone a complete protein Cheese, on the other hand, is an important source of saturated fat and sodium in our diet In order to reduce the intake of saturated fat, low-fat cheese is sometimes recommended to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease Paradoxically, however, there is growing evidence that people who eat a lot of cheese do not have a high risk of cardiovascular disease, including type 2 diabetes Photo source: http://cn.bing.com Professor Catherine Chan's team at the University of Alberta studied the effect of low-fat cheese and common fat cheese on insulin resistance in pre diabetes rats The results showed that both cheese can reduce insulin resistance, which is very important to maintain normal blood glucose Why many previous studies on the effects of cheese on cardiovascular disease (CVD) in mice were observational In other words, researchers have been studying the daily eating behavior of a large number of people for many years, and then linked the amount of cheese (and other dairy products) consumed to the risk of cardiovascular disease (such as high cholesterol or coronary artery disease) An observational study published in 2016 found that cheese has a neutral or beneficial effect on a variety of CVD risk factors These studies are very useful for establishing trends related to daily diet patterns, but they are not sure that a specific food will cause or prevent a specific disease In order to better understand causality, it is useful to study the effects of food in a controlled environment These studies can be carried out in humans, but they also have limitations Therefore, research in laboratory animals can also be useful, especially in understanding biochemical mechanisms Photo source: http://cn.bing.com cheese and insulin resistance insulin resistance are common diseases that develop with age and obesity, and can lead to the risk factors of hyperglycemia, CVD and type 2 diabetes Their aim was to compare the effects of low-fat cheese consumption with that of normal fat cheese consumption on insulin resistance and to explore biochemical mechanisms that might explain any observed effects The researchers used a rat model of insulin resistance that shares many characteristics with humans They built the model by feeding rats a lot of lard Four weeks later, the rats were divided into three groups: 1) lard diet, 2) lard diet and cheddar cheese, 3) lard diet and regular fat cheddar cheese All diets contain the same amount of fat, but the sources of fat are different (lard and cheese) The mice continued to eat for another eight weeks In their study, the most interesting finding was that reduced and normal fat cheddar cheese reduced insulin resistance in rats This suggests that the beneficial effect of cheese may not be related to fat content, but to other components such as protein or calcium Since they began to study butter and cheese, there have been some new studies on humans in the literature A team of researchers from the University of Laval and the University of Manitoba compared the effects of eating different sources of fat on abdominal obesity in men and women The duration of the diet was four weeks and all participants were assessed The researchers compared a butter, cheese, olive and corn oil diet (32% of calories came from fat) with a higher carbohydrate diet (25% of calories came from fat) The researchers examined blood sugar and insulin levels, which are indirect indicators of insulin resistance, and found that no fat had any effect However, since blood samples were collected after fasting, the information on blood glucose was incomplete Another study compared low-fat cheese with common cheese, and found that there was no overall difference in LDL cholesterol characteristics among people with cardiovascular disease risk factors, but no blood glucose related results were examined Photo source: http://cn.bing.com changing blood metabolites in their study, they also studied how the metabolites in the blood changed after cheese feeding, and found similar effects in low-fat cheese and ordinary cheese These changes are related to a special molecule called phospholipid, which has many functions in the human body Interestingly, low circulating phospholipids are associated with diabetes and insulin resistance in humans The phospholipid level of rats fed on lard was lower These are normal in mice that eat cheese Researchers are now working on this - understanding how cheese regulates phospholipid metabolism and how this correlates with insulin resistance Reference materials: [1] why cheese may help control your blood sugar [2] Dominik D Alexander et al Daily consumption and CVD: a systematic review and meta-analysis British Journal of nutrition Doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/s000711451550000 [3] anik rzhanning et al Both low - and regular fat cheese medium improved insulin sensitivity and modulate serum phospholipid profiles in insulin-resistant rats The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry Volume 64， February 2019， Pages 144-151 https：//doi.org/10.1016/j.jnutbio.2018.10.018
【4】Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier et al Systematic Review of the Association between Dairy Product Consumption and Risk of Cardiovascular-Related Clinical Outcomes Advances in Nutrition， Volume 7， Issue 6， November 2016， Pages 1026-1040， https：//doi.org/10.3945/an.115.011403 【5】Didier Brassard et al Comparison of the impact of SFAs from cheese and butter on cardiometabolic risk factors： a randomized controlled trial The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition， Volume 105， Issue 4， April 2017， Pages 800-809， https：//doi.org/10.3945/ajcn.116.150300 【6】Farinaz Raziani et al Consumption of regular-fat vs reduced-fat cheese reveals gender-specific changes in LDL particle size - a randomized controlled trial Nutrition & Metabolism201815：61 https：//doi.org/10.1186/s12986-018-0300-0