Butter intake may double your risk of diabetes: study

Daily intake of just 12 grammes of butter, which is rich in saturated fatty acids and trans fats, may double your risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a new study has warned.

Researchers, including Marta Guasch-Ferre from Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health in the US, evaluated the associations between total and subtypes of fat intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

In addition, they evaluated the relationship between food sources rich in saturated fatty acids and the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

The findings showed that those participants who consumed higher amounts of saturated fatty acids and animal fat had a two-fold higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those participants with a lower intake of saturated and animal fat.

The consumption of 12 grammes per day of butter was associated with a two-fold higher risk of diabetes after 4.5 years of follow-up, whereas the intake of whole-fat yogurt was associated with a lower risk.

The study analysed data from 3,349 participants in the PREDIMED Study who were free of diabetes at baseline but at high cardiovascular risk. After 4.5 years of follow-up, 266 participants developed diabetes.

The findings emphasise the healthy benefits of a Mediterranean diet for preventing chronic diseases, particularly type 2 diabetes, and the importance of substituting saturated and animal fats (especially red and processed meat) for those found in vegetable sources such as olive oil and nuts, researchers said.

The study appears in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.