The bacteria that make cheese taste so good may also benefit your gut
Researchers at the University of Reading followed the microbial and biochemical changes in three Oxfordshire cheeses from Nettlebed Creamery as they ripened: a soft white rind variety aged a little over a week, a washed rind semi-soft matured over several weeks, and a semi-hard cheese aged in hay for roughly nine months. The same bacteria that build each cheese's aroma and texture as it ages may also make compounds tied to lower inflammation, cholesterol regulation and appetite control. This is evidence about what lives in the cheese, not a trial of what it does in people, so any gut benefit is potential rather than proven. Still, it suggests the microbial life in artisan cheese could be doing more than shaping flavour.
What it shows: Reported by ScienceDaily (health & medicine) and not verified by us: we could not trace this story to a published paper, so treat it as news rather than evidence we have checked.