Mediterranean diet
Reuters

Fats and carbohydrates are generally linked to significant weight gain. But researchers have found that having certain fats don't add on pounds significantly.

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A latest study carried out by scientists from Spain revealed that some fats don't affect health much.

The study was carried out on 7,447 middle-aged men and women who were mostly obese or overweight, diagnosed with type-2 diabetes or prone to heart ailments.

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A group of participants were asked to follow a Mediterranean diet, which comprises of more fresh fruits, veggies and lean proteins like fish, along with added olive oil or nuts to their diet for a span of five years. These participants did not restrict the number of calories they consumed.

The other group of participants was asked to follow a low-fat diet and also weren't limited in the amount of calories they ate daily, southernliving.com reported.

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The study carried out by Spanish researchers reveals that people following Mediterranean diet also ate more vegetables, fruits and fish and their consumption of meat and dairy products was less compared to those following a low-fat diet. Despite not having any restriction on the calorie consumption, the group which followed Mediterranean diet shed slightly more weight than the control group following a low-fat diet.

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The study sheds light on better understanding about the role of fats by nutrition and health experts. People often substitute fatty foods like meat or other protein-rich products with carbohydrates and sweets which can be equally harmful and trigger health issues like heart diseases and obesity.

According to another recently conducted study, only 3.6 percent of deaths due to heart ailments across the world are caused by saturated fats which are present in dairy products and red meat. The study even revealed that more than 10 percent of such deaths were found to be linked to consuming very few plant oils used in abundance in  Mediterranean diet.

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Another research revealed that people who drank full-fat milk had 46 percent lesser risk of getting diabetes compared to those who opted for skim milk.