People’s Pharmacy | Will your brain do better on Brie?
Are we finally revising our ideas on the role of fat in the diet? We’ve complained before that demonizing saturated fat is not supported by sound science. According to a recent analysis, avoiding saturated fat might help only people at the highest risk (Annals of Internal Medicine, Dec. 16, 2025).
Now scientists in Sweden report unexpected results from a 25-year-long study (Neurology, January 27, 2026). In this cohort, people who ate at least 50 grams of high-fat cheese daily (such as Brie or Cheddar) were less likely to develop dementia than those who ate less than 20 grams. The investigators found a similar pattern with high-fat cream, but not with low-fat dairy products or even butter. They admit that an observational study cannot show causation, but these results go counter to the usual dietary advice to cut fat as much as practical.
Some People’s Pharmacy readers are delighted with this news. One reader wrote:
“I feel vindicated by the latest research on cheese. I learned years ago that the brain prefers fat, particularly cholesterol, as its preferred energy source. So I have been consuming cheese myself.
“During my lifetime, we may even learn that the war on fat, particularly cholesterol, is behind the tidal wave of dementia, along with environmental toxins, poor nutrition and sedentary lifestyle. Condemning cholesterol is another example of medical dogma based on virtually no science but an erroneous assumption of presumed causation through association, something the medical experts scathingly attack with respect to alternative treatments.”
Another reported: “I am a dual Swedish/American citizen. Swedes eat a ton of cheese, butter, cream, milk and eggs. In the aisles of the supermarket, dairy products take up as much space as cereal, cookies and chips combined do here in the US.
“Yet the average lifespan in Sweden is 84, and 78 in the US. Fats have never been shunned in Scandinavia. Beef is expensive and rarely eaten. The traditional Swedish diet of whole grains, dairy products, root vegetables, berries, apples and pears and fish, with pork and chicken for festive occasions, has greatly benefited the Scandinavian population. That is our version of the much-touted Mediterranean diet. Alzheimer disease was not a problem among my ancestors and relatives!”
Not everyone is so enthusiastic. We also heard from this person: “Cheese is delicious, so I would love to jump on this bandwagon. This seems like a thin association and a less-than-robust study, though. I’m not ready to ignore better research finding animal sources of saturated fats to be inflammatory and detrimental to health until we have much better research.”
The Swedes are not the only ones who seem to derive some brain benefit from eating cheese. The authors of the study refer to previous research done in Finland, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands linking “higher cheese intake to better cognitive function in older adults.”
The point about study design is valid, though. This is an observational study, similar to the Health Professionals Follow-up Study or the Nurses’ Health Study here in the US. We don’t know if it is cheese or something special about people who like cheese and can afford it that makes the difference. As the senior author, Dr. Emily Sonestedt noted, the findings of this study are “challenging some long-held assumptions about fat and brain health.”
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Joe Graedon is a pharmacologist. Teresa Graedon holds a doctorate in medical anthropology and is a nutrition expert. Their syndicated radio show can be heard on public radio. In their column, Joe and Teresa Graedon answer letters from readers. Write to them in care of this newspaper or e-mail them via their Web site: www.PeoplesPharmacy.com.
This story was originally published January 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM with the headline "People’s Pharmacy | Will your brain do better on Brie?."