Fat is GOOD for you – butter, cream & cheese help combat surge in type 2 diabetes

By JORDAN GASS-POORE FOR MAILONLINE

For decades we were told that eating fat would clog our arteries and send us to an early grave, but a current study published in a leading medical journal disproves this theory.

In fact, fat may be good for us. A mounting slew of evidence suggests that having full dairy in your diet may actually protect you from heart disease, cancer and Type 2 diabetes.

The study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found overweight middle-age men who ate high levels of saturated fats – mainly found in dairy, meat and tropical oils – and low levels of carbohydrates lost weight.

Besides a slimmer figure, the men’s blood pressure and glucose levels were reduced. Refined carbohydrates turn into sugar in our bodies, causing a spike in insulin that leads to fat accumulation in cells, experts say. 

Professor Sherif Sultan, a heart specialist from the University of Ireland, told the Sunday Express: ‘We urgently need to overturn current dietary guidelines.

‘People should not be eating high carbohydrate diets as they have been told over the past decade.

‘Instead our diets should be largely based on good quality high-fat foods. This will prevent the rising epidemic of Type 2 diabetes and reverse the growing numbers of people suffering weight-related heart problems.’

The roots of the obesity epidemic lie in diets high in carbohydrates and sugars, Professor Sultan said.

Eating a diet rich in full-fat dairy may help lower the chance of obesity. However, researchers stress that there’s a distinction between types of fat.

The men in the study were given ‘good fats’, such as unprocessed butter cream and cheese that scientists believe absorb well in the body.

Dr Simon Dankel, associate professor at the University of Bergen in Norway, which carried out the study, said: ‘There is a tremendous focus on avoiding high-fat foods for weight control but this study challenges the notion that saturated fats have a strongly negative impact on health and weight.

‘The men on a high fat diet not only lost weight but also became slimmer and had lower cholesterol levels.’