Here's A Good Reason To Never Stop Eating Cheese

Cheese is an essential part of many of the world's most delicious foods: mac and cheese, pizza, grilled cheese. I could keep going.

Sadly, the beloved dairy product isn't always a major part of a healthy diet, mostly because the best kinds (I'm looking at you, brie) are high in fat and calories and low-ish on the nutrient scale.

But guess what, cheese lovers? A new study says cheese — or, rather, a natural preservative found in cheese — may actually help fight cancer. TAKE THAT, DAIRY HATERS.

Researchers at the University of Michigan recently tested the effects of nisin, a peptide found in cheese and some processed meats, on cancerous tumors in mice.

They reportedly found high concentrations of nisin, a natural preservative created by the Lactococcus lactis bacteria, killed between 70 and 80 percent of cancer cells in mice over a period of nine weeks.

The researchers added nisin stops some harmful strains of bacteria from forming groups, making it an effective defense against difficult-to-treat bacterial infections like MRSA.

Unfortunately, the concentrations of nisin fed to the mice were approximately 20 times the equivalent of what's commonly found in food and, therefore, would be nearly impossible to replicate by eating cheese alone; if humans took the preservative in tablet form, up to 30 pills would be necessary to receive the equivalent dosage given to the mice.

The researchers, while optimistic, warned it's still early to say whether or not these results could be seen in humans.

Clinical trials, however, will be conducted to continue to test the preservative's power against human cancer and bacterial cells.

You know what this means? Wine and cheese are officially (well, almost, anyway) this century's de facto health foods. Guess the French had it right this whole time.

Citations: A New Study Says Cheese Can Help Kill Cancer Cells (Cosmopolitan), Magic mold Food preservative kills cancer cells superbugs (Michigan News)