Red and White Meats Are Equally Bad.

• Position: CHOLESTEROL LEVELS

Contrary to popular belief, consuming red meat and white meat (such as poultry) have equal effects on blood cholesterol levels, according to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study, led by scientists at Children's Hospital Oakland (Calif.) Research Institute, surprised the researchers with the discovery that consuming high levels of red meat or white poultry resulted in higher blood cholesterol levels than consuming a comparable amount of plant proteins. Moreover, this effect was observed whether or not the diet contained high levels of saturated fat, which increased blood cholesterol to the same extent with all three protein sources.

"When we planned this study, we expected red meat to have a more-adverse effect on blood cholesterol levels than white meat, but we were surprised that this was not the case --their effects on cholesterol are identical when saturated fat levels are equivalent," says senior author Ronald Krauss, director of Atherosclerosis Research and professor of medicine at the University of California, San...