Common food item could lower your risk of heart disease & type 2 diabetes, boffins claim

BUTTER could actually reduce your risk of heart disease, scientists say.

Having a teaspoonful a day was found to cut the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by a third.

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The study, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that butter boosts “good” cholesterol - which helps to remove harmful fats known to cause heart attacks and strokes.

Scientists from Boston University tracked 2,500 men and women over the age of 30 over decades, noting what they ate and how many went on to develop heart disease.

Those who ate five grammes of butter a day or more were 31 per cent less likely to develop Type 2 diabetes - usually caused by poor diet and lifestyle - than those eating little or no butter.

Margarines - often promoted as “healthy” alternatives for butter - increased the risk of diabetes by more than 40 per cent and heart problems by 30 per cent.

Researchers put it down to the unhealthy “trans fats” used in margarines from the 1970s onwards - now largely ditched by spread manufacturers.

Eating a portion of beans a day could also slash your risk of deadly heart attack or stroke, new research shows.

Beans - whether they're dried, canned or frozen - can boost heart and metabolic health, according to scientists.

Daily portions of chickpeas and black beans could serve as a "simple, cost-effective" way to reduce the risk of chronic diseases, they said.

The new study links chickpeas to improved cholesterol levels, which blacks beans seemed to reduce inflammation.