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FRIDAY, April 26, 2019 (HealthDay News) — Substituting red meat with high-quality plant protein sources, but not with fish or low-quality carbohydrates, leads to greater improvements in blood lipids and lipoproteins, according to a review published online April 9 in Circulation<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Marta Guasch-Ferr\u00e9, Ph.D., from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to identify trials comparing diets with red meat to diets that replaced red meat with a variety of foods. Comparison diets were stratified into high-quality plant proteins (legumes, soy, nuts), chicken\/poultry\/fish, fish only, poultry only, mixed animal protein sources (including dairy), carbohydrates (low-quality refined grains and sugars, such as white bread, pasta, rice, cookies\/biscuits), or usual diet.<\/p>\n
Based on 36 included studies (1,803 participants), the researchers observed no significant differences between red meat and all comparison diets with regard to changes in blood concentrations of total, low-density lipoprotein, or high-density lipoprotein cholesterol; apolipoprotein A1 and B; or blood pressure. Compared with high-quality plant protein sources, red meat yielded lesser decreases in total cholesterol (weighted mean difference [WMD], 0.264 mmol\/L) and low-density lipoprotein (WMD, 0.198 mmol\/L). Compared with fish, red meat yielded greater decreases in low-density lipoprotein (WMD, -0.173 mmol\/L) and high-density lipoprotein (WMD, -0.065 mmol\/L). Red meat yielded greater decreases in triglycerides compared with carbohydrates (WMD, -0.181 mmol\/L).<\/p>\n
“Inconsistencies regarding the effects of red meat on cardiovascular disease risk factors are attributable, in part, to the composition of the comparison diet,” the authors write.<\/p>\n
Two authors disclosed financial ties to the food industry.<\/p>\n