Is red meat that bad? Is white meat that healthy?

By now you have certainly come across information suggesting a strong link between eating red meat and poor cardiovascular outcomes. Largely, we believe this is due to the saturated fat content of many cuts of red meat, but a recent study in the American Journal Of Clinical Nutrition looks at whether eating white meat is truly any better.

Wait... steaks have saturated fat?? Lets take a quick look at different cuts of red meat (in their usual serving size), their calorie, fat and saturated fat content.

• Ribeye (10oz) - 873 calories - 65 grams fat (27 saturated)
• T-bone (10oz) - 741 calories - 47.7 grams fat (17 saturated)
• Filet (7oz) - 426 calories - 22.2 grams fat (14 saturated)
• Grilled Chicken Breast (7oz) - 327 calories - 7.1 grams fat (2 saturated)

You can easily see from the numbers above that a typical 10oz ribeye would give you twice the saturated fat as the typical 7oz filet. Chicken in comparison, however, appears to have half of the total fat content, and an even smaller fraction of saturated fat.

To investigate whether white meat may have the same deleterious effects as read meat, researchers decided they would analyze cholesterol levels after 4 weeks of an assigned diet. The study compared the changes in cholesterol between a diet of red meat, white meat, or a "non-meat" diet.

Large LDL particles were increased in both the red meat and white meat groups, WITHOUT a significant difference. The plant based diet did the best, with the lowest cholesterol levels.

Does this mean chicken is as bad as steak for you health? Alternatively, does it mean steak is as healthy as chicken? The only real conclusion here is that they may be more similar than previously thought, and that a meat in general, raises your cholesterol.

Read the abstract here <<<