Eating aged cheese - such as cheddar, blue, brie, parmesan, gouda, gruyere, swiss and some mozzarella - could be the key to long-term liver health, a study by Texas A&M University has discovered.
They also found mushrooms, soy products, legumes, corn, and whole grains gave the same benefits.
It’s because all these items contain a special compound occurring naturally in food - spermidine.
It increased lifespan by 25 per cent in the research published in the journal Cancer Research.
The compound was able to prevent liver fibrosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, the most common type of liver cancer, developing by stopping damaged cells replicating.
According to the study authors it means that, instead of living to 81, you could make it to 100 - although you’d have to consume lots of the compound from the moment you begin eating solid food as a child.
However, they suggest that any amount could contribute to longevity and further research will look into whether spermidine can be made into a supplement.
There are just three other things scientifically shown to help you live longer.
“Severely cutting the number of calories consumed, restricting the amount of methionine (a type of amino acid found in meat and other proteins) in the diet and using the drug rapamycin - have been shown to truly prolong the lifespans of vertebrates,” said Leyuan Liu, assistant professor at the Texas A&M Institute of Biosciences and Technology’s Center for Translational Cancer Research.
But eating less and not eating meat will not be welcomed by general population, while rapamycin has shown to suppress the human immune system - therefore, spermidine may be a better approach,” he added.
More specifically, these findings could lead to a reduction in the rate at which liver cancer is set to increase in the UK.
It is projected to rise by 38 per cent between 2014 and 2035, and currently one in 105 men and one in 195 women will be diagnosed with liver cancer during their lifetime.
The main causes of liver cancer are thought to be drinking excessive alcohol, a long-term hepatitis B or hepatitis C viral infection, having an inherited disorder called haemochromatosis and long-term liver disease known as primary biliary cirrhosis
Research also points to being overweight and having an unhealthy diet as leading to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which in turn can trigger liver cancer.
The NHS recommends lowering your chances of liver cancer by cutting down on alcohol, eating healthily, doing lots of exercise and avoid becoming infected with hepatitis B and C.
In addition to your liver, eating plenty of cheese has a number of other health benefits.
A 2016 study by the University of Copenhagen discovered it boosts levels of "good" high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, which is believed to protect against cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
The University of Bergen in Norway found a diet rich in dairy fats could help protect from heart disease, and a study by John Hopkins University concluded that eating cheese was more effective than taking calcium supplements.
Indeed, a recent survey by the National Osteoporosis Society found cutting out dairy, including cheese, was putting people’s bone health at risk if they weren’t getting enough calcium from other sources.
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