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(Circulation. 2004;109:103-107.)
© 2004 American Heart Association, Inc.

Basic Science Reports

High -3 Fatty Acid Content in Alpine Cheese

The Basis for an Alpine Paradox

From the Department of Medicine, Kantonsspital Baden, and the Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich, Switzerland.

Correspondence to J.H. Beer, MD, Department of Medicine, Kantonsspital Baden, 5404 Baden, Switzerland. E-mail hansjuerg.beer{at}ksb.ch

Received June 17, 2003; revision received August 21, 2003; accepted August 22, 2003.

Background— -Linolenic acid (ALA) may protect from cardiovascular disease. Because fresh alpine grass contains high amounts of ALA, we hypothesized that the levels of -3 fatty acids would concentrate to nutritional relevance in the cheese of milk from cows with alpine grass feeding compared with cheese from silage and concentrate feeding; the newly available cheese produced from cows fed with linseed supplementation should contain even higher ALA concentrations.

Methods and Results— Forty different cheeses were analyzed by gas chromatography for their fatty acid profile: (1) 12 from well-defined alpine regions around Gstaad, Switzerland; (2) 7 commercially available English cheddar cheeses; (3) 6 cheeses from cows fed with linseed supplementation; (4) 7 industrial-type Emmentals; and (5) 8 alpine cheeses with partial silage feeding. The alpine cheese contained 4 times more linolenic acid (C18:3-3) compared with cheddar, more total -3 fatty acids, and showed a significantly lower n-6:-3 ratio. Conjugated linoleic acid (C18:2 c9/t11) was 3-fold higher, whereas the amount of palmitic acid was 20% lower. The Emmental reached 40% of the ALA content compared with alpine cheese, and surprisingly, cheese from linseed-supplemented cows contained only 49% of that of the alpine cheese (P<0.001 for each trait in the 5 cheese groups).

Conclusions— Cheese made of milk from cows grazed on alpine pastures had a more favorable fatty acid profile than all other cheese types. Alpine cheese may be a relevant source of ALA and other cardioprotective fatty acids.

Key Words: nutrition • fatty acids • coronary disease • diet • death, sudden

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