Healthy Dietary Patterns with and without Meat Improved Cardiometabolic Disease Risk Factors in Adults: A Randomized Crossover Controlled Feeding Trial

Abstract

We assessed the effects of consuming a U.S.-style healthy dietary pattern (HDP) with lean, unprocessed beef (BEEF) compared to a U.S.-style HDP without meat (vegetarian, VEG) on short-term changes in cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk factors in adults classified as overweight or obese. Forty-one adults (22 females, 19 males; age 39.9 ± 8.0 y; BMI 29.6 ± 3.3 kg/m2; mean ± SD) completed two 5-week controlled feeding periods (randomized, crossover, controlled trial). For the BEEF HDP, two 3-oz (168-g) servings/d of lean, unprocessed beef were predominately substituted for some starchy vegetables and refined grains in the VEG HDP. Baseline and post-intervention measurements were fasting CMD risk factors, with serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL), total cholesterol (TC), and total apolipoprotein B as primary outcomes. VEG reduced LDL, insulin, and glucose compared to BEEF. Reductions did not differ between VEG vs. BEEF for TC, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), apolipoprotein A1, small, dense LDL IV, buoyant HDL2b, TC-to-HDL ratio, and systolic blood pressure. Total apolipoprotein B and all other CMD risk factors measured were not influenced by HDP type nor changed over time. Adopting a U.S.-style HDP that is either vegetarian or omnivorous with beef improved multiple cardiometabolic disease risk factors among adults classified as overweight or obese.