A cheese against cholesterol
Published on 5/3/2013
A pecorino to lower cholesterol levels. This is the result of studies conducted by the research team led by Prof. Sebastiano Banni of the University of Cagliari, department of Biomedical Sciences, together with the ASL8 health authority of Cagliari, the University of Pisa and the cheese producer Argiolas of Dolianova.
The study focused on the possibility of achieving an effect on blood cholesterol levels through the processing of sheep's milk obtained with particular livestock-farming systems.
Prof. Banni, head of the research, stated: "with the intake of pecorino containing conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), metabolic action improved in hypercholesterolemic patients and a reduction in bad cholesterol was even recorded". It is in fact a fatty acid of the Omega-6 group, with already well-known antioxidant properties.
The empirical part of the research involved about 40 patients with hypercholesterolemia who were given a 90g dose of "normal" pecorino for 3 weeks, with no evident benefits for the patients; but when the product was switched, that is, repeating the experiment with the pecorino with a higher CLA content, the researchers were able to observe a reduction in cholesterol levels of about 7%, "in addition to a clearly better metabolic action".