Good news for cheese lovers. New British research finds that that saturated fat in cheese, yogurt, and other dairy products may protect against Type 2 diabetes.
Researchers from Cambridge University and the Medical Research Council studied the diets of more than 340,000 people to see if there was a link between saturated fat and the development of diabetes. What they found is that while red meat, fried food, alcohol, and carbohydrates appear to have an impact on the development of Type 2 diabetes, dairy foods seem to protect against the disease, The Telegraph reports.
“Our findings provide strong evidence that individual saturated fatty acids are not all the same,” said lead researcher Nita Forouhi, M.D., with the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at Cambridge University. “The challenge we face now is to work out how the levels of these fatty acids in our blood correspond to the different foods we eat.”
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Saturated fat is typically found in fatty animal products such as butter, cheese, and red meat.
It has been generally considered unhealthy and linked to high levels of cholesterol and heart disease, as well as Type 2 diabetes. But a growing body of research is challenging those links and suggests, at least in moderation, it may not be an unhealthy choice.
The new study, which is based on an analysis of the diets of people from eight European countries, was published in the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
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