Fats are now the good guys of health – they even protect against diabetes

Fats in our diet have been the bad guys for years-but not anymore. In the past year or so, scientists have discovered they don’t cause heart disease or artery damage, and now a new study has found they help prevent diabetes.

People who eat eight or more portions a day of high-fat dairy products have a 23 per cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, the ‘lifestyle’ form of the disease.

Dietary fats seem to affect glucose metabolism and insulin sensitivity, the two processes that are associated with diabetes, say researchers from Lund University in Malmo, Sweden.

They based their findings on a study of 26,930 people, aged between 45 and 74, whose diet and health was checked for 14 years. Cream and high-fat milk seemed to have a positive protective effect, although the results were less clear for animal fats in meat. People eating high-fat meats had a 9 per cent raised risk for diabetes, although, strangely, the risk rose to 24 per cent among those who ate low-fat meats.
(Source: European Association for the Study of Diabetes, Vienna, Austria, September 15, 2014)

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