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Eating more of polyunsaturated fat from such sources as vegetable oils or nuts, and less saturated fat from meat and cheese, could help slow the progression of diabetes in some people, according to a study by King's College London.

While weight loss is widely regarded as the most effective way to prevent the progression of diabetes in patients predisposed to it,  researchers found that examined whether a targeted dietary intervention could have an additional pre-emptory impact. 

Co-author Nicola Guess, a diabetes researcher at King's College London, said that the findings suggest that increasing dietary intake of polyunsaturated fats may have a beneficial effect for patients with a certain type of prediabetes .

In the study, published March 21 in the journal PLOS ONE, the researchers looked at 14 endurance-trained athletes, 23 obese people, 10 people with prediabetes and 11 people with type 2 diabetes. The researchers tested the people's blood sugar levels and the levels of fatty acids in their blood and correlated the findings with answers to a questionnaire by participants about how much saturated fat and polyunsaturated fat they consumed in three previous months.

According to a report by Express, the researchers split pre-diabetes into two distinct conditions, one in which the liver produces too much glucose and another where glucose is not taken up properly by the muscles. 

People with the type of prediabetes where muscles do not take up glucose properly have levels of blood sugar, or glucose, that are higher than normal but not high enough to warrant being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.

On the other hand, for people with a type of prediabetes where the liver produces too much glucose, consuming less saturated fat also seemed to be beneficial for their insulin sensitivity. However, consuming more polyunsaturated fat did not seem to affect their insulin sensitivity.

Among people who had either type of prediabetes, those who ate more polyunsaturated fat and less saturated fat were found to have higher levels of insulin sensitivity--which is a lower risk of developing full-blown diabetes, the researchers said. 

The researchers emphasized that more research is needed to determine exactly how much polyunsaturated fat may be beneficial for patients with the type of prediabetes in which glucose uptake into muscles is impaired, 
Previous research has suggested that getting about 12 percent of your total daily calories from polyunsaturated fat is optimal, Guess told Live Science.

The researchers noted that the new study was small and that further research with more participants is needed to confirm the results. Guess noted that they intend to build on this work with larger studies, and eventually make a test based on randomised trial.  

In the UK, the number of adults that suffer from diabetes rocketed by 65 per cent since 2005 to 3.5 million, figures reveal. 

Meanwhile, in 2012, there were 86 million Americans age 20 and older who had prediabetes, and 29.1 million who had diabetes, with the vast majority of the cases being type 2, according to the American Diabetes Association.