Saturated fats have been a diet taboo for years, but a new study suggests athletes and regular exercisers can tolerate more than we think. You can’t outrun a bad diet . At least, that’s been the perceived wisdom until now.
But a new study by Aberdeen University suggests that without changing anything about what we eat – saturated fat and all – you can improve your health and lose weight. The study shows that processes that occur in your heart and blood (your cardio-metabolic health) are the biggest driver in how our bodies use different fats as fuel. For eight weeks, the male athletes in the study swapped exercise regimes with sedentary males who had Type 2 diabetes .
Researchers found that one hour of vigorous exercise a day enabled those with Type 2 diabetes to lose weight, improve insulin sensitivity and sugar control and lower their cholesterol . The study demonstrated that athletes and people with Type 2 diabetes burn saturated fat differently and that the participants with Type 2 diabetes could reverse the difference (in weight, insulin sensitivity, sugar control and cholesterol) following an eight-week ‘lifestyle swap’. Interestingly, neither cohort changed anything about their diets, which were comparable in amount and quality.
Not only does it challenge the perceived wisdom around the role of exercise in health, it also supports the idea that saturated fats aren’t as straightforwardly harmful as previously thought and might even be the preferred fuel fo.
