The British journal of nutrition
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A comparison of the effects of cheese and butter on serum lipids, haemostatic variables and homocysteine.
Milk fat contains considerable amounts of saturated fatty acids, known to increase serum cholesterol. Little is known, however, about the relative effect of different milk products on risk factors for CHD. The aim of the present study was to compare the effects of Jarlsberg cheese (a Norwegian variety of Swiss cheese) with butter on serum lipoproteins, haemostatic variables and homocysteine. ⋯ Total cholesterol was significantly lower after the CH diet than after the BC diet (-0.27 mmol/l; P=0.03), while the difference in LDL-cholesterol was found to be below significance level (-0.22 mmol/l; P=0.06). There were no significant differences in HDL-cholesterol, triacylglycerols, apo A-I, apo B or lipoprotein (a), haemostatic variables and homocysteine between the diets. The results indicate that, at equal fat content, cheese may be less cholesterol increasing than butter.