title: Cheese consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease: a meta-analysis of prospective studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cheese contains a high content of saturated fatty acids but also lists of potentially beneficial nutrients. How long-term cheese consumption affects the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is unclear. A meta-analysis of prospective observational studies was conducted to evaluate the risks of total CVD, coronary heart disease (CHD), and stroke associated with cheese consumption.
  
  
  METHODS
  Potentially eligible studies were identified by searching PubMed and EMBASE databases and by carefully reviewing the bibliographies of retrieved publications and related reviews. The summary relative risks (RRs) with 95 % confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using the random-effects model.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The final analyses included 15 prospective studies. Most of the studies excluded prevalent CVD at baseline (14/15) and had a duration >10 years (13/15). The summary RR for high vs. low cheese consumption was 0.90 (95 % CI 0.82-0.99) for total CVD (7 studies, 8076 events), 0.86 (95 % CI 0.77-0.96) for CHD (8 studies, 7631 events), and 0.90 (95 % CI 0.84-0.97) for stroke (7 studies, 10,449 events), respectively. The restricted cubic model indicated evidence of nonlinear relationships between cheese consumption and risks of total CVD (Pnonlinearity< 0.001) and stroke (Pnonlinearity= 0.015), with the largest risk reductions observed at the consumption of approximately 40 g/d.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This meta-analysis of prospective studies suggests a nonlinear inverse association between cheese consumption and risk of CVD.
authors: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Soochow University, 199 Renai Road, 215123, Suzhou, China.
authors: Guo-Chong
authors: GC
authors: Chen
authors: Yili Innovation Center, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd., Hohhot, China.
authors: Yan
authors: Y
authors: Wang
authors: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Soochow University, 199 Renai Road, 215123, Suzhou, China.
authors: Xing
authors: X
authors: Tong
authors: Yili Innovation Center, Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd., Hohhot, China.
authors: Ignatius M Y
authors: IMY
authors: Szeto
authors: Yili R&D Center, 6708 PB, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
authors: Gerrit
authors: G
authors: Smit
authors: Department of Nutrition, The First Hospital of Hebei Medical University, 050031, Shijiazhuang, China.
authors: Zeng-Ning
authors: ZN
authors: Li
authors: Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Soochow University, 199 Renai Road, 215123, Suzhou, China. qinliqiang@suda.edu.cn.
authors: Li-Qiang
authors: LQ
authors: Qin
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002611:Cheese; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Cheese; Dairy; Meta-analysis