Cheese: The surprising link to mental well-being and healthy ageing

Scientists have confirmed the key role of mental well-being in healthy ageing by analyzing a range of data on factors influencing it. They also discovered a surprising factor linked to both mental well-being and healthy ageing.

A study conducted on 2.3 million people showed that mental well-being might be the most important single condition for healthy ageing and longer life regardless of socio-economic factors. Scientists from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China analysed data from ethnically diverse residents of Europe.

In a complex analysis, researchers compared data on various factors, including genetics, lifestyle, wealth, and education. Mental well-being was the best predictor of a long, healthy life. However, the surprising discovery was that individuals who reported the best mental health and resilience to stress, which improved well-being, also seemed to eat more cheese.

The study highlighted diseases, behaviours, and lifestyle choices significantly lowering the healthy ageing score. The most important of these included watching television, smoking, heart failure, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), stroke, coronary artery atherosclerosis, and ischaemic heart disease. These risk factors were not surprising to scientists.

Cheese, on the other hand, shifted the pendulum in the other direction regarding its association with well-being and healthy ageing. It was identified in the lifestyle analysis as one of the five components most strongly linked with healthy ageing. Its consumption was associated with healthy ageing at a level of 3.67%. For comparison, a higher fruit intake had a positive impact of 1.96%, while spending too much time in front of the television, indicating a more sedentary lifestyle, had a 7.39% negative impact.

Greater consumption of cheese (and fruit), while not directly responsible for happy, healthy ageing, was one of the standout factors among individuals who scored high in terms of mental well-being. What does this mean? As with all cohort studies, complex interactions prevent pinpointing any single factor responsible for changes in such complex issues as a sense of mental well-being and ageing.

Cheese may be associated with wealth, social activity, or health benefits. And while this was a large study, it focused exclusively on adults of European origin. A survey of data from, e.g., Asia, where dairy consumption is less widespread, could indicate a different dominant factor co-occurring with mental well-being.