Study reveals how to eat saturated fat and lose weight

If you need an excuse to exercise, this new study may butter you up. 

You can eat saturated fat, found in animal products and full-fat dairy, and still lose weight if you exercise for five hours a week, according to a study from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland published in Nature Communications. 

The study didn’t examine a person’s diet, but rather how different types of fat are metabolized depending on the person’s overall health and physical fitness, local paper Aberdeen Live explained. 

The study analyzed two groups of men, one of whom had Type 2 diabetes and didn’t exercise very much, and another group of men who identified as athletes who worked out a lot. 

The men in each group then switched lifestyle behaviors, with the athlete group going from nine hours of weekly exercise to none and the diabetic group going from no exercise to five hours per week. 

After the change in routine, participants were injected with small amounts of different kinds of fats, then underwent an MRI to see what the fat did inside their muscle cells. 

The study found that in athletes, saturated fat is burned as energy, and in people with Type 2 diabetes, saturated fat is stored in the body.

“We discovered that athletes store and utilize saturated fat intensely for high-performance physical activity, and conversely in people with Type 2 diabetes, we observed predominantly storage,” said Professor Dana Dawson, chair of the cardiovascular medicine department at the University of Aberdeen. 

Dawson added, “We also showed in people with Type 2 diabetes that endurance exercise training increased the storage and utilization of saturated fat,” to the point that, after eight weeks of the program, the sedentary athletes and the exercising diabetics were metabolizing fats in a similar way.

“Overall, the most striking and completely new perspective we have taken from this study is that one size doesn’t fit all and that one’s cardio-metabolic health dictates how efficiently you’re able to use different fats as fuel,” Dawson said.

“These results are completely novel and highlight how keeping fit and active improves metabolism of saturated fat as a direct benefit of exercise,” she added.

Ian Frizell, who has Type 2 diabetes and who participated in the study, said that he “enjoyed the health benefits.”

“Following the swap, I experienced weight loss, increased fitness level, lowered blood sugar level and an improvement in cholesterol readings. The routine of measured exercise every day was the key to the success of the program,” he said. 

Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said that the research details the benefits of exercise for heart health. 

“While the study compared two very specific groups – male athletes and men with Type 2 diabetes – the findings offer reassurance that being physically active can improve how the body uses different types of fat,” Williams said.