A new reason to eat cheese: In a German study of over 24,000 adults followed for over 10 years, it was learned that those who ate more Vitamin K 2 were less likely to develop cancer or to die from it. (Vitamin K 1 did not have the same effect.) 1 The results were even more significant in men with regard to lung and prostate cancer. The researchers used cheese consumption as a main indicator of Vitamin K 2 intake.

My 2 cents: There are many other reasons to get enough Vitamin K 2 . For example, it helps keep calcium going into the bones instead of gunking up the arteries. Seems there'd be zero cancer, heart disease or osteoporosis in the USA if eating cheese was all it took—we put it on everything. However, that stuff they squirt on your corn chips at the ball park (and call it nachos?) and “cheese” that squirts out of a can are not the kind these German scientists were talking about. Hard cheese is the best dairy source of Vitamin K 2 . Other food sources are dark greens like Kale (oops, not popular here) and parsley (you know that decoration people pick off of restaurant plates). I mentioned that our intestinal bacteria make vitamins. Good news, they make Vitamin K 2 . Germans may get more Vitamin K-producing bacteria from their fermented sauerkraut which isn't pasteurized like ours is.