[Getty Images Bank]
[Getty Images Bank]

People who consistently ate ice cream — a high-calorie food high in sugar and saturated fat — showed a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, according to new research. Experts, however, said the findings do not prove any health benefit from ice cream and warned against taking the results at face value.

According to the New York Post, an analysis of multiple observational studies found that people who consistently consumed about 110 grams of ice cream a day — roughly half a cup — had a lower risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease than those who did not.

The researchers raised the possibility that whey protein in ice cream may have played a role. Studies have consistently reported that whey protein can help stimulate insulin secretion and moderate post-meal blood sugar spikes.

Experts, however, drew a line at interpreting the findings as evidence that ice cream prevents diabetes or qualifies as a health food.

Dariush Mozaffarian, director of the Food as Medicine Institute at Tufts University, said the results may reflect the influence of "reverse causation."

People already diagnosed with diabetes or high blood sugar tend to cut back on ice cream on medical advice, while healthy individuals often enjoy ice cream as part of a lifestyle that includes regular exercise and a balanced diet. That dynamic, he said, can make ice cream eaters appear statistically healthier.

The fact that all the studies involved were observational is also a significant limitation. Observational research can identify associations between consumption of a particular food and disease risk, but it cannot establish that ice cream actually reduced that risk.

The possibility that various factors — including physical activity, body weight, dietary habits and socioeconomic conditions — influenced the results cannot be ruled out.

Experts said that rather than labeling any single food as either healthy or harmful, overall lifestyle patterns must be considered. A balanced diet, regular physical activity and maintaining a healthy weight are far more important factors in preventing chronic disease, they said.

Recent nutrition research has increasingly found that overall dietary patterns have a greater impact on health than the effects of any single food. Experts advised that even when intriguing findings emerge, it is better to maintain a varied and balanced diet than to increase ice cream consumption based on such results alone.


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