Blood fats: White meat no better than red
Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.
More posts by Christiane Fux All content is checked by medical journalists.White poultry meat is considered healthier than red meat from beef, lamb and pork. But that's not true when it comes to cholesterol.
As popular as steaks and burgers are, the knowledge is slowly gaining ground that consuming large quantities of red meat is a health hazard. Among other things, the risk of cardiovascular diseases has been shown to increase with consumption. Until now, it was assumed that the saturated fatty acids contained in it drove up cholesterol levels, more precisely those of bad LDL cholesterol.
In comparison: red and white meat
Researchers at Childrens Hospital Oakland Research Institute have now for the first time examined how eating red meat compared to white meat or a meatless diet affects cholesterol levels. "When we planned the study, we expected that red meat had a greater effect on cholesterol than white meat - but surprisingly that was not the case," says study director Ronald Krauss.
The researchers had divided their subjects into a total of six groups. The participants received a diet that contained either a lot of red, a lot of white meat or only a source of vegetable protein. There was one group whose meals contained a lot of saturated fatty acids (51 people in total) and one group that consumed only small amounts (62 people in total).
Lean meat also increases cholesterol levels
“The negative effect of red and white meat on the cholesterol level was the same as long as the meals contained the same amounts of saturated fatty acids,” reports Krauss. It was noteworthy that lean red and white meat also raised cholesterol levels. Because the protein building blocks contained can be used to build lipoproteins, which also include cholesterol. Vegetable protein, on the other hand, did not have a negative effect on blood lipid levels.
Little meat, little saturated fat
The study underlines that a meat-free diet, which also contains few saturated fatty acids, results in particularly low cholesterol levels. People whose values are elevated should therefore not only eat red meat, but also turkey steaks and chicken schnitzel in moderation.
Red meat is more dangerous for the intestines
In terms of the risk of colon cancer, white meat remains the healthier choice. Those who eat large amounts of red meat increase their risk. This connection was not found in white meat.
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