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Alice Park @aliceparkny
June 6, 2016
Researchers say that it s time to move beyond the dogma to avoid all fats in
our food. Certain types of fat won t make you heavier
Health experts have warned for years that eating too much fat can contribute to
calorie overload, overweight and obesity. But not all fats are created equal,
and in the latest study on the subject, scientists found that eating certain
fats, no matter how many calories they contain, won t lead to significant
weight gain.
In the study published in the journal Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology,
researchers in Spain report that people who were put on a Mediterranean diet
without any calorie restrictions for five years lost slightly more weight than
people put on a low-fat diet for the same amount of time.
The group of 7,447 middle-aged men and women, who were at higher risk of having
heart problems because they had type 2 diabetes or other heart-related risk
factors, were mostly overweight or obese. Those who were told to adopt a
Mediterranean diet, which contains more fresh fruits and vegetables and lean
proteins like fish, also added either olive oil or nuts to their diet, but they
did not restrict the number of calories they ate. The control group was told to
eat a low-fat diet and also weren t limited in the amount of calories they ate
daily.
The findings highlight the more sophisticated understanding that nutrition and
health experts have about the role of fats in promoting health. Advice to limit
or eliminate fatty foods can backfire for health, since people tend to replace
the fats from meats or proteins with carbohydrates and sweets, which can be
just as detrimental (if not more) for promoting obesity and heart disease.
Recent studies have found similar results that question the damning of all
fats. One study revealed that only 3.6% of heart deaths around the world can be
attributed to saturated fats found in red meat and dairy products, while more
than 10% of heart deaths were traced to eating too few plant oils, like those
that are plentiful in a Mediterranean diet. In another study by the same
authors of that analysis, people who drank full-fat milk had a 46% lower risk
of developing diabetes than those who chose skim.
The Spanish researchers found that people on the Mediterranean diet also ate
more vegetables, fruit and fish and consumed less meat and dairy products than
those on the low-fat diet. That could explain why, even though they weren t
told to eat fewer calories, the people in the Mediterranean group tended to
lose slightly more weight than those in the low-fat group.
Taken together, these results and those from other recent studies are making a
stronger case against cutting out all fat from the diet. Good fats, such as
those from plants like olive oil and nuts, are not only helpful for the heart
but won t add to weight gain. And keeping a healthy weight is yet another way
to avoid problems like heart disease and diabetes.