Beef fat does not raise blood cholesterol levels, according to a study produced by Canada’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science (DAFN).
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Presenting the study’s findings at a conference in the Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, chemical technologist Margaret French: “There’s a strong public perception that beef raises blood cholesterol levels because some of [its] fatty acids are saturated [but] with this, and earlier studies, we have scientifically tested this hypothesis.
“Even when our subjects were eating beef twice a day, their total and LDL blood cholesterol levels were the same as when they were eating a diet of primarily chicken, beans and pulses,” she said.
French, who works for DAFN, designed diets for the study with Tom Clandinin, a professor of nutrition at the University of Alberta. The diets mimicked those of the typical Canadian with consistent total fat levels but only 36% of calories, while being both high and low in beef fat. The high beef fat diet meant consuming around eight ounces of red meat everyday.
In the test subjects, the Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol (commonly referred to as “bad cholesterol”) and HDL (“good”) cholesterol remained unchanged, regardless of whether the diets contained high or low levels of polyunsaturated fat.
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By GlobalData“Saturated fats in the diet can have beneficial effects in some essential metabolic processes,” French insisted to Canada NewsWire: “For example, saturated fats lower stress hormone levels and help blood flow by reducing peripheral vascular resistance.
“Our study’s results mean that Canadians can enjoy beef as part of a balanced diet, such as that recommended in Canada’s Food Guide to Healthy Eating,” she added.
