A new study conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan and soon to be published in the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy reports that a preservative found in cheese can fight 30 types of cancer. As if that's not good news enough, it can also kill deadly antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
It's because of a naturally occuring food preservative called nisin. It's found in Camembert, cheddar, and Brie cheese (and other daily products). Nisin binds to a group of static bacteria then kills them before they resist antibiotics.
In the University of Michigan study, nisin was isolated from cheese, and 800 milligrams of it, in the form of milkshake, was fed to mice with neck tumors. In just nine weeks, the food preservative killed 70 to 80 percent of the cancer cells.
The study's lead author, Dr. Yvonne Kapilia, admits that the results aren't yet proven to be applicable to humans, too. But she's looking forward to testing nisin in a clinic setting. According to her, humans or animals aren't resistant to nisin, so it can be an effective treatment that will stand the test of time.
Note: Eating loads and loads of cheese won't kill the cancer cells, if that's what you're thinking. Nisin is only around .25 to 37.5 milligrams per kilo of cheese. So you are in no way near the 800 milligrams of nisin given to mice. And it's not wise (or even possible) to eat 3,200 kilos of cheese in one sitting to get that dose. Seriously.
This story originally appeared on Cosmo.ph.
* Minor edits have been made by the Femalenetwork.com editors.
PHOTO: Pixabay
