Eating cheese has a cholesterol-lowering effect and its benefits for heart health may be greater for women than men, a new Irish study has found.

Researchers at University College Dublin (UCD) tested the impact of eating both cheddar cheese and butter on cholesterol levels in men and women.

In men, there was no significant difference in how they responded to consuming cheese or butter. There was a similar lowering of cholesterol concentrations with both foods.

However, there was a dramatic difference in women, with significantly lower cholesterol after consumption of cheese compared to butter.

Researchers believe this indicates that women are more sensitive to the nutritional makeup of cheese than men.

They call this the dairy matrix effect: the structure of protein, fat and other nutritional elements in dairy foods and how they interact in the human body.

Personalised nutrition

Dr Martina Rooney is co-author of the research article The impact of sex and the cheese matrix on cholesterol metabolism in middle-aged adults.

She said the study’s findings may play a role in personalised nutrition, such as female-specific guidance for heart health and the treatment of heart disease.

“Simply put, females appear to respond more favourably to cheese compared to fat in other dairy foods and this is important.

“Increased understanding of sex differences in response to diet will help provide more tailored, personalised nutrition to those at risk of heart disease and therefore improve management of heart health through lifestyle modifications,” she added.

Heart disease

Commenting on the study, the National Dairy Council (NDC) said heart disease is a leading cause of death among women in Ireland, even though men are at greater risk of developing the condition.

Dairy products – such as milk, yogurt and cheese – are known to play an important part in health due to the nutrients they contain.

However, many people limit their intake of these important foods because they contain saturated fat, which is linked to high cholesterol, the NDC added.