Could the right kind of fat benefit your health? - Diabetics Weekly

Home Latest Research Could the right kind of fat benefit your health?

Latest Research

Could the right kind of fat benefit your health?

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August 31, 2016

Could the right kind of fat benefit your health?

According to a study from PLOS Medicine, that seems to be correct.

The study was led by Dr. Dariush Mozaffrarian from Tufts University in Massachusetts and Fumiaki Imamura from the University of Cambridge in the UK. They analyzed the carbohydrate and fat content in the meals of 4,660 adults, monitoring how their influence in type 2 diabetes.

The results suggested that exchanging dietary carbohydrate with saturated fat does not affect the levels of blood sugar. However, it was shown that changing a diet from carbohydrate and saturated fat to one rich in unsaturated fat improves the regulation of blood glucose.

“A DIET RICH IN UNSATURATED FAT IMPROVES THE REGULATION OF BLOOD GLUCOSE”

But you might be wondering, “what does this mean for me?” The bottom line is that consuming more unsaturated fats, particularly polyunsaturated, instead of either carbohydrates or saturated fats will help you have a better blood glucose control. These findings support benefits of consuming more vegetable oils, fish , nuts, and vegetables rich in unsaturated fats like avocados or olives.

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A Low Calorie Diet May Improve Your Diabetes

A Low-Calorie Diet May Improve Your Diabetes Are you ready to embrace a low-calorie diet? If you're looking to improve your health, lose weight and potentially reverse your Type 2 Diabetes, a low-calorie diet may be the answer you're looking for. During a study of 30 people with type 2 diabetes, researchers discovered a very low-calorie diet of around 600 to 700 calories a day for eight weeks, followed by a more moderate six-month weight control diet, resulted in an improvement in blood glucose levels in 40 percent of the participants. Lead researcher, Roy Taylor, MD, FRCP, a professor of medicine and metabolism at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom noted that all the volunteers were type 2 diabetes patients, diagnosed within a two year period and were all overweight or obese. For eight weeks, participants consumed three diet shakes and tiny portions of non-starchy vegetables that amounting to 600 and 700 calories a day. After the initial eight-week participants were allowed to consume approximately one-third the amount prior they ate prior to the study. Researchers noted that there is a person fat threshold: When a person gains more weight than their physique can tolerate, then diabetes is triggered, but if they lose that weight, they can return to their normal lives. It all depends on metabolism – just keep in mind that 70% of severely obese people do not have diabetes. A low-calorie diet , researchers noted removed excess fat from the pancreas and resulted in normal levels of insulin. However, not all participants had this response. While losing weight and keeping it off might be a way for some to reverse their condition through diet alone, everyone has the willpower to make those changes. While these results are encouraging, it is important to note that this was a small, uncontrolled, non-randomized clinical trial; further study is needed. A larger trial of 280 patients is underway, funded by Diabetes UK.