Good news for cheese lovers: This doctor discovered ‘the longevity nutrient’ and guess where you can find it

Rich, creamy and packed with flavor, cheese, in its many forms, has been a staple part of the human diet for time immemorial. Exactly when those waxy slabs of dairy goodness came into being and who invented cheese is something we will never know. A food that predates history itself, the most common theory is that cheese was invented by accident, many thousands of years ago, when curds and whey formed over time when fresh milk was left.

Over the subsequent 7,000 years or so, the process of making, storing and curing cheese turned into an art form. Today, there are thousands of varieties of cheese produced in all parts of the world - hard cheeses, soft cheeses, blue-veined, spreadable, smoked...

While some cheeses have a high fat content and need to be eaten in moderation, most are a vital source of protein, calcium and vitamins A and B12 which help bone and teeth development, strengthening them to prevent fracture and cavities.

And that’s not the only benefit from having cheese as part of you diet. Just like the ancient cheesemakers of prehistoric times, veterinary epidemiologist Stephanie Venn-Watson made a discovery while studying the eating habits of two different pods of dolphins that she believes is directly linked to the aging process in mammals.

Dolphin’s eating habits reveal previously unknown fatty acid

Venn-Watson studied a pod of dolphins in Florida and another in California, and noticed that the latter suffered from more aging-related conditions than the former. Why were the Florida dolphins healthier even in old age? Venn-Watson realized it was down to the different fish that both pods were eating. The Florida dolphins ate fish with higher levels of a saturated fatty acid, called C15:0 (FA15). When their Californian cousins switched to the same diet, their aging-related conditions and cell inflammation stabilized.

C15:0 has similar properties to omega-3 in that it helps to reduce inflammation and vasoconstriction, and in turn, may have positive implications for the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer.

Venn-Watson now makes sure she gets her own recommended intake of C15:0 by having a daily cheese snack - usually a piece of cheese on a wholewheat cracker. “Key ways I do that are through grass-fed cheeses that come from grass-fed animals. Those have some of the highest C15:0 levels,” she told CNBC Make It. “We’ve also learned fiber has a lot of importance. So, classic cheese and crackers (high-fiber crackers, so not the ones that are chock full of processed carbs)”.

Cheeses with a high content of C15:0

For example, Italian Pecorino cheese, which is similar to the country’s other classic cheeses, Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, but a little saltier, is rich in C15:0. Others include Ricotta, Cheddar, Mozzarrella, Neufchatel and Cottage cheese.

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