Scientists at Cambridge University and the Medical Research Council found that saturated fat in cheese, yoghurt and other dairy products may protect against type 2 diabetes
For cheese lovers it will be news worth celebrating with an extra thick slice of comte.
Not only is the saturated fat found in dairy products not bad for health, but, on the contrary, it may protect against type 2 diabetes, according to a new study.
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.
They found that while red meat, fried food, alcohol and carbohydrates did appear to have an impact on the development of type 2 diabetes, dairy foods seem to protect against the disease.
"Our findings provide strong evidence that individual saturated fatty acids are not all the same,” said lead researcher Dr Nita Forouhi, from 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.”
Saturated fat is typically found in fatty animal products such as butter, cheese and red meat.
It is generally considered unhealthy and linked to high levels of cholesterol and heart disease, as well as type 2 diabetes.
Different types of saturated fat can be spotted in the body by looking for chain-like saturated fatty acid molecules which contain either an odd or even number of carbon atoms.
Molecules with odd numbers of carbon atoms (15 and 17), which are associated with eating dairy products like yoghurt, cheese or milk, appeared to have protective effect.
Those with an even number (14, 16 and 18) were associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, the most common form of the disease affecting almost three million people in the UK.
Dr Forouhi, added: "These odd-chain saturated fatty acids are well-established markers of eating dairy fats, which is consistent with several recent studies, including our own, that have indicated a protective effect against type 2 diabetes from eating yoghurt and other dairy products.
"In contrast, the situation for even-chain saturated fatty acids, such as 16:0 and 18:0, is more complex.
“As well as being consumed in fatty diets, these blood fatty acids can also be made within the body through a process which is stimulated by the intake of carbohydrates and alcohol."
The Epic-InterAct study funded by the European Commission investigated the relationship between blood levels of nine different saturated fatty acids and type 2 diabetes risk.
Researchers looked at 12,403 people who developed the disease from a population of more than 340,000 from eight European countries.
Professor Nick Wareham, chief co-ordinator of the InterAct project to identify genetic and lifestyle diabetes risk factors, said that the findings demonstrated that some saturated fats were better than others.
"With the world's largest study of its kind, we can place a lot of confidence in these findings, which help us to better understand the relationships between saturated fatty acids and risk of developing diabetes."
However health experts cautioned against adding more dairy fat into diets.
Prof Keith Frayn, Emeritus Professor of Human Metabolism, University of Oxford, said: “Higher levels of these particular fatty acids have long been known to be protective against heart attack, and here the authors show protection against diabetes development.
“But these results do not say that it would therefore be beneficial to ingest these particular fatty acids: it is quite possible, indeed probable, that these are simply markers of a particular dietary pattern that may involve other factors protecting against diabetes.”
Professor David Lomas, Chair of the MRC’s Population and Systems Medicine Board, added: “Type 2 diabetes has serious consequences for health and healthcare costs, and its numbers are rising in all world regions.
“Identifying new ways to not only treat, but prevent the condition are therefore vital."
The findings appear in the journal The Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
Graham
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