No beef with these results.
One of the leading causes of death worldwide, cardiovascular disease affects your heart and blood vessels, and the risk increases with factors like cholesterol and diet — including hamburgers, a summer staple.
The next time you’re at a barbecue, though, feel free to add a patty or two to your plate, thanks to research on the surprising effects of red meat on men’s cholesterol.
Eating hamburgers too often is linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heightened cholesterol thanks to the amount of sodium and saturated fat in typical servings.
While moderation is key and a good old-fashioned hamburger can be made healthy with some simple swaps, one study is telling a different story about the health effects.
The study, published in the journal Nutrients, took a look at men’s cholesterol and blood vessel health after eating multiple burgers during the week alongside a regular diet.
Of 23 men who ate five burgers per week for five weeks, the researchers found that adding high-fat ground beef (around 25% fat) or low-fat ground beef (about 5% fat) didn’t harm blood vessels.
The positive changes from the high-fat beef may even be linked to lower cholesterol.
The team used flow-mediated dilation — a non-invasive ultrasound test — to measure how well blood vessels widen when blood flow increases.
Beef with higher amounts of fat resulted in better blood vessel dilation, supporting proper blood flow and reducing blood pressure.
The low-fat beef didn’t change blood vessel dilation, however.
The researchers believe the reduced blood pressure is connected to the surprising effects the high-fat beef had on cholesterol, namely “bad” cholesterol.
The data was collected from participants who had completed a previous study looking at the effects of high- or low-fat ground beef on cholesterol.
Despite an increased intake of saturated fat, the high-fat ground beef lowered low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.)
LDL cholesterol causes plaque to build up in arteries, narrowing blood vessels and increasing the chances of heart disease and stroke.
Previous research has shown that diets heavy in red meat and animal fats raise LDL cholesterol levels, increasing the risk of heart disease.
However, both types of beef also lowered “good” cholesterol that helps clear extra cholesterol from the blood vessels.
The study was the first to find that short-term consumption of high-fat beef reduced blood pressure and potentially cardiovascular disease risk, countering the well-researched belief that foods high in saturated fat are unhealthy diet choices.
Other research has found that switching to plant protein — specifically mycoprotein, a protein made from fungus — could help lower bad cholesterol by 10%, and may even have benefits comparable to those of the Mediterranean diet.
Even eating white meat — specifically poultry — affects blood cholesterol levels in about the same way that red meat does.
