Cheese the Secret Ingredient in French Cardiovascular Health?

A recent article has speculated that cheese consumption is behind the epidemiological phenomenon known as the “French paradox,” that is, “the low rates of cardiovascular mortality which have existed in France for decades despite high saturated fat consumption.” Ivan Petyaev and Yurig Bashmakov, “Could cheese be the missing piece in the French paradox puzzle,” Medical Hypotheses, December 2012. Although previous studies have attempted to link red wine consumption to reduced cardiovascular mortality, the article argues that the “French paradox” “seems to be a multifactorial phenomenon and not due solely to red wine intake.”

The authors hypothesize that many cheeses—and particularly molded cheese—contain unique peptides “inhibiting the inflammatory cascade and angiotension-converting enzyme [that] may provide a pharmacological basis for this phenomenon.” They also note that in addition to bacteria-ripened varieties, such as Cheddar and Gouda, blue-veined cheeses including Roquefort contain “some important secondary metabolites” produced by Penicillium roqueforti, Penicillium camemberti or other fungi. These metabolites apparently include “andrastins A-D as well as roquefortine, whose ability to inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis and bacterial growth might be a key mechanism in favoring their therapeutic potential for cardiovascular disease.”

“Therefore it is plausible to conclude that cheese consumption might be an
important factor in conferring resistance to cardiovascular disease in the
French population,” write the researchers, who ultimately recommend further clinical studies of molded cheese. “This statement is well supported by the fact that other European countries with similarly high cheese consumption
(Switzerland, Greece) have a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease and
mortality.”