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Bad news for those watching their levels of cholesterol – new research indicates that avoiding red meat, and sticking to white instead, will make no difference in your overall cholesterol levels.
For years the advice given to people looking to lower their bad cholesterol levels has been to avoid red beef and stick to white meat like chicken. Instead, this new research suggests that consuming either protein has about the same effect on your cholesterol levels.
It has been long known that red meat has a higher saturated fat content then white meat does. The consumption of more saturated fats increases the concentration of bad cholesterol (called LDL) in your bloodstream. LDL can build up inside of you, coating the inside of your arteries and can lead to a stroke or heart attack.
Because of this, dietitians and doctors have always recommended avoiding red meat for those trying to watch their LDL levels. And it makes sense! If that juicy steak has more saturated fat than that chicken breast, and saturated fats increase bad cholesterol, you should choose the chicken. However, this theory has never been tested before… until now.
100 men and women between the ages of 21 and 65 were chosen and assigned foods. High saturated and full fats, like from butter, or low saturated fats. These participants cycled through 3 types of diets: Red meat (Mainly beef), white meat (Mainly chicken), and then no meat at all. At the end of each diet cycle, their blood was tested, and they were given a ‘break’ where they could return to their normal eating habits to reset their system.
The diet that had the highest impact on LDL levels was the diet lacking any meat at all, suggesting that the best way to avoid increasing your bad cholesterol levels is actually to avoid meat completely.
The blood tests from the other two diets were identical, meaning that whether you eat a diet full of red meat or chicken, your LDL levels will show similar changes.
While these results only look at a small amount of data, and nothing is conclusive, it is something to consider next time you are out to eat. The best advice the researchers could give people considered about their levels was to choose lean meats instead of fatty ones, and substitute beans and high protein grains when at all possible.
