Is eating rare beef good for the heart?

New research published in the American Society for Nutrition journal Current Developments in Nutrition looked at the impact of beef consumption on cardiovascular disease risk factors.

In studies of cardiometabolic health, red meats are often grouped together, leading to mixed conclusions. While some studies have shown that higher consumption of red meat (such as beef) increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, recent meta-analyses have found no harmful effects of red meat on risk factors for the disease.

Results found that lean beef consumption had no significant effect on most blood lipid or lipoprotein indices compared with the control group.

Now, to clarify the specific effects of each type of red meat, scientists from the Midwest Biomedical Research Foundation, in Addison, Illinois (USA), systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed trials from the PubMed database - the main data source of the US National Library of Medicine, and the CENTRAL database - a data source from many countries, including Canada, the UK, and Australia, until January 2024.

The meta-analysis included 20 studies with higher beef intakes, averaging about 161 grams per day (about 2 servings), compared with control diets that typically contained no or very little beef, to assess the effects of beef consumption on cardiovascular risk factors, specifically blood lipids and blood pressure, according to the medical website News Medical.

The results found that eating lean beef had no significant impact on most blood lipid or lipoprotein indices, such as total cholesterol, good cholesterol, triglycerides, and many other blood lipid indices, compared to the control. Women who ate more beef even had slightly lower triglyceride levels, according to News Medical.

The authors concluded: Although the beef diet slightly increased bad cholesterol, it did not significantly affect most indicators of cardiovascular health.

Although beef consumption had a very small impact on bad cholesterol levels, which increased slightly with higher beef consumption, the researchers stressed that lean, unprocessed beef (often served as rare beef) provides high-quality protein, iron, zinc and vitamin B12, making it a valuable dietary component with only a minimal impact on cardiovascular risk factors.

The authors concluded: Although the beef diet slightly increased LDL cholesterol, it did not significantly affect most markers of cardiovascular health. This opens the door to considering the role of beef in nutrition.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nghien-cuu-moi-an-thit-bo-tai-co-tot-cho-tim-185241203215203957.htm