Calling all cheese lovers, do we have some *Gouda* news for you: health experts have just given us full licence to regularly enjoy our favourite food.
It turns out that eating cheese regularly could actually help ward off diabetes – at least according to new dietary guidance.
The new guidelines also recommend having apples, yoghurt and even tea or coffee (three cheers for the daily cuppa) in order to help reduce your chances of developing the condition.
Speaking about the new advice, research dietician Dr Pamela Dyson, co-chair of the guidelines, told The Telegraph: ‘We’ve made these dietary guidelines in terms of food and not nutrients… because food is what people eat, they don’t eat “nutrients”.
‘And it’s a message that’s far easier to communicate with people when you’re talking about foods they actually eat.’
The advice has been issued by Oxford University researchers in collaboration with the charity Diabetes UK, and is based on the results of 500 studies, so we don’t know about you but we’re going to take this as full licence to have a cheeseboard for dinner!
That said, the experts also recommend that people concerned about diabetes try to increase their activity levels and lose weight, so we probably shouldn’t go in too hard with the brie.
Here are the dietary guidelines…
Foods to eat
- Wholegrains
- Fruit (e.g. apples, grapes and blueberries)
- Green leafy vegetables
- Dairy products (e.g. cheese and yoghurt)
- Tea and coffee
Food to avoid
- Red and processed meat
- Sugary drinks
- Refined carbohydrates (e.g. white bread)
