Jarlsbergost for bedring av beinhelse og lipidstatus

In a previous study we found that persons eating about 50 g Jarlsberg® daily for five weeks improved their vitamin K status and lowered their blood cholesterol level and blood pressure. The study indicates that eating Jarlsberg® has several positive health effects. In fact, the effect on cholesterol is opposite of what is expected for a full fat cheese. In general, our results indicate that daily Jarlsberg® consumption can reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases, in particular among the elderly. In this project we have studied whether other another cheese has the same effects as Jarlsberg®. We compared Jarlsberg® and Camembert. Half of a group of healthy women took Jarlsberg® for six weeks, the other half took the same amount of Camembert. Blood analyses after six weeks revealed striking differences between the two groups. The persons taking Jarlsberg® had much higher levels of serum vitamin K2. The also had much higher levels of osteocalcin, and the extent of activation of osteocalcin activation was much higher than in the Camembert group. Activated osteocalcin plays an important role maintaining bone strength. After six weeks the persons in the Camembert group changed to daily Jarlsberg® intake instead. This also resulted in increased serum levels of vitamin K2 and osteocalcin and increased activation of osteocalcin. Blood analyses showed that that daily Jarlsberg® consumption caused a reduced blood calcium level. This indicates that calcium from the bloodstream is being consumed for bone formation. We investigated this further by analyzing the levels of PINP (N-terminal Propeptide of Collagen Type I), a bone formation marker, and CTX (C-terminal telopeptide) a marker of bone breakdown. Bone undergoes continuous breakdown and renewal. In the persons taking Jarlsberg® PINP increased whereas CTX remained unchanged, meaning that there was net bone formation by daily Jarlsberg® intake. This was not the case among the Camembert eaters; PINP and CTX did not change. The trials verify Jarlsberg®®'s positive effects on bone health. We also conducted studies to find the daily dose of Jarlsberg® needed to maintain the positive effects. This was found to be 42g per day. Despite prior results we did not see any reduction or change in blood cholesterol at first in these studies. Changes in lifestyle and eating habits caused by the recently started COVID19 pandemic might explain these controversies. However, the cholesterol level showed a marked decrease as persons changed from daily Camembert to Jarlsberg®. We also found glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) to decrease by taking Jarlsberg®, but not Camembert. Elevated HbA1c is an indication of diabetes. Possibly, the beneficial effects on cholesterol and HbA1c re due to Jarlsberg®'s stimulation of osteocalcin. We are not aware of any other food showing these effects. It is a well-known fact that osteopenia or osteoporosis is not uncommon among former elite endurance athletes such as cross-country skiers. Based on our findings we hypothesized that Jarlsberg® can be beneficial for bone health in endurance athletes, hence a 12 week study were ten female and ten male Norwegian elite cross country skiers were eating daily doses of Jarlsberg® was undertaken. Blood samples were taken during the study and based on the analyses the daily dose of Jarlsberg® was adjusted to maximize osteocalcin levels. The optimal doses were estimated to be 80 and 85 grams of Jarlsberg® per day for the female and male skiers, respectively, much higher than we found in our previous studies involving females not being elite skiers. After 12 weeks of daily Jarlsberg® intake serum osteocalcin did increase, but the percentage increase was much lower than we saw in the previous studies. Like in the previous studies we found serum calcium to be decrased by Jarlsberg®, indicating net bone formation. DXA, an X-ray method, used to measure bone mineral density (BMD) confirmed this. We found that BMD had increased after 12 weeks of Jarlsberg® consumption in both the male and the female groups. This is an important finding. Jarlsberg® can be a useful aid in strengthening and maintenance of bone health in athletes of both sexes. The athletes underwent several tests and analyses showing health status improvements. Among the findings were increased muscle mass and resting metabolic rate.

Gjennom prosjektet har vi opparbeidet viktig samarbeid med medisinere og Norges idrettshøgskole. Resultater fra den største studien, hvor effekter av Jarlsberg og Camembert ble sammenlignet, er sendt til publisering i internasjonalt tidsskrift. Artikkelen vil vekke stor oppmerksomhet og være viktig for kjennskap til Jarlsberg som «helsekost» med effekt mot store folkehelsesykdommer. Pga Coronapandemien ble studien av Jarlsberg effekt på skiløpere noe endret. Også her ble det oppnådd meget gode resultater med Jarlsberg, og publisering av disse resultatene vil ha stor betydning for idrettsutøvere, som vil smitte over på andre. Det er etablert godt samarbeid mellom Tine, Norges Idretthøgskole og medisinske fagmiljøer. Interessen for videre forskningssamarbeid på effekter av Jarlsberg er stor.

Internasjonal forskning har konkludert med at klinisk mangel på vitamin K er meget hyppig forekommende. I det vestlige kosthold er fermenterte meieriprodukter (ost, syrnet melk) de viktigste kildene til vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 produseres av bakteriene som brukes i framstillingen av disse produktene, og Tine har produkter med betydelig vitamin K2 innhold. Vi har gjennomført en klinisk studie med Jarlsbergost med viktige resultater (Lundberg et al. 2019). Jarlsberg, som er rik på vitamin K2, ble gitt friske frivillige i moderate mengder og ga større helsegevinster og flere enn det som er rapportert med rene vitamin K2 preparater i høye doser. Foruten bedret vitamin K status, fikk personene som spiste Jarlsberg lavere blodtrykk, lavere kolesterol og økt osteocalcin. Vi kjenner ikke til at andre matvarer påvirker osteocalcinnivået. Osteocalcin er viktig for beinbygningen, men nyere forskning har vist at lave osteocalcinnivåer i blodet er korrelert med bla. metabolsk syndrom og type 2 diabetes. Resultatene fra den kliniske studien indikerer at Jarlsbergost kan gi et viktig bidrag til styrket beinbygning samt redusert og normalisert lipidnivå. Generelt kan våre resultater tyde på at daglig forbruk av Jarlsbergost kan være med på å bedre folkehelse ikke minst for en aldrende befolkning. Gjennom dette prosjektet ønsker Tine å: Ytterligere belyse sammenheng mellom Jarlsberg og helse Finne inntak av Jarlsberg tilstrekkelig for å opprettholde en god vitamin K status og de andre positive helseeffektene Måle effekter av Jarlsberg på toppidrettsutøvere innen langrenn. Blant slike utøvere er symptomer som blant annet lav beintetthet og dermed fare for tidlig osteoporose ikke uvanlig.. For de kliniske studiene brukes det «Response Surface Pathway Design» (RSP), en banebrytende, kostadseffektiv metode utviklet av Meddoc. I dette prosjektet vil Meddoc også videreutvikle RSP.