SCIENTISTS have revealed a simple hack to make your body burn saturated fat as fuel rather than storing it.
It can be hard resist bacon, sausages, pastries and biscuits.
While there’s nothing wrong with enjoying these from time to time as a treat, gorging on them often can take a toll on your health – raising levels of cholesterol in your blood and increasing your risk of heart disease.
Whether you burn fat or store it depends on how active you are, according to new research from the University of Aberdeen.
They found that consistently exercising for just five hours a week is enough to change how the body deals with saturated fats, kick-starting it to use them as fuel.
The study, published in Nature Communications, looked into how different types of fat are used by the body, depending on how physically fit you are.
Researchers examined how fat was metabolised in ‘super healthy’ male athletes and men with type 2 diabetes who did little to no exercise.
They found that athletes had high amounts of saturated fat in their muscle, which they used to fuel their athletic performance.
Meanwhile, diabetics had more unsaturated fat in their muscle, and their body’s ability to burn fats for energy was ‘blunted’.
The team, led by Professor Dana Dawson, also found that in athletes, saturated fat is used intensely for physical activity as the ‘preferred source of energy.’
Researchers asked each group to swap exercise regimes for three weeks.
The athletes underwent ‘deconditioning’, where they went from exercising vigorously for at least nine and a half hours per week to none.
The patients with type 2 diabetes underwent endurance training where they exercised for five hours a week.
Before and after the lifestyle swap, the volunteers received small amounts of different fats via an intravenous injection and had MRI scans to see how the fat behaved inside their muscle cells.
Results showed the group with type 2 diabetes lost weight, improved their insulin sensitivity and lowered their cholesterol, triglycerides and fasting glucose levels.
Lead author Professor Dana Dawson said: “We discovered that athletes store and utilise saturated fat intensely for high performance physical activity and conversely in people with type 2 diabetes, we observed predominantly storage.
“We also showed in people with type 2 diabetes that endurance exercise training increased the storage and utilization of saturated fat in their skeletal muscle cells to the extent that they became similar to the deconditioned athletes after 8 weeks of training.
“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.
“These results are completely novel and highlight how keeping fit and active improves metabolism of saturated fat as a direct benefit of exercise.”
Professor Bryan Williams, chief scientific and medical officer at the British Heart Foundation, said: “This small study reinforces the benefits of keeping active on our 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.
“Importantly, the study did not assess the impact of consuming fat, and the existing advice remains to try and replace saturated fat in the diet with unsaturated fat.
“Daily physical activity can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by lowering cholesterol, triglycerides and fasting blood sugar levels, as well as helping to maintain a healthy weight.”
Prof Williams had some advice for how to incorporate exercise into your routine if you’re not used to it.
“When it comes to being active, it’s important to get into a routine that you enjoy and that you can stick to.
“Try to build up to 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week, such as a brisk walk, swimming or cycling.”
Losing weight should be a long-term commitment to healthier living, rather than any drastic measures.
The NHS tips – which can be adopted slowly – include:
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