Eating saturated fat could actually be good for you

Consuming saturated fat may actually be good for you, claims a new study that challenges the long held belief that dietary fat is unhealthy for most people.

In a randomised controlled trial conducted by researchers at the University of Bergen in Norway , 38 men with abdominal obesity followed a dietary pattern high in either carbohydrates or fat, of which about half was saturated. Fat mass in the abdominal region, liver and heart was measured with accurate analyses, along with a number of key risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

“The very high intake of total and saturated fat did not increase the calculated risk of cardiovascular diseases,” said professor Ottar Nygard. “Participants on the very-high-fat diet also had substantial improvements in important cardio metabolic risk factors, such as ectopic fat storage, blood pressure, blood lipids (triglycerides), insulin and blood sugar,” said Nygard.

Both groups had similar intakes of energy , proteins, polyunsaturated fatty acids; the food types were the same, varied mainly in quantity , while the intake of added sugar was minimised. “Our findings indicate that the overriding principle of a healthy diet is not the quantity of fat or carbohydrates, but the quality of the foods we eat,” said PhD candidate Johnny Laupsa-Borge.