Experts seek out the true relationship between meat, meat lipids and heart disease
by Bryan Salvage, editor
During the past few years, red meat has been singled out as a dietary villain by some physicians treating patients with high blood cholesterol levels.
Drastically cutting or totally eliminating red meat from the diet was often prescribed for high blood cholesterol cases. Today, many things affect a person's blood cholesterol level. Smoking, exercise and being obese or overweight-and other factors such as genetics-are proving to have greater influence on blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol.
"Dietary cholesterol is not the only factor, nor is it the major factor," says Cindy Schweitzer, director, Meat Science/Research Information for the National Live Stock and Meat Board. "We now know that genetics play a major role in a person's blood cholesterol level."
Earlier this year, a group of internationally respected scientists who are researching how fat, fatty acids and cholesterol affect blood cholesterol levels and heart disease, assembled at NLS&MB headquarters in Chicago.
"One major goal of this meeting was to try and get a handle on our state of knowledge in terms of the influences of the lipids, fat and cholesterol that we find in meat products," Schweitzer says. "How much of a risk do they present in heart disease?"
Presentations were made on such topics as nutritional epidemiology and heart disease; genetic issues; and dietary cholesterol and interactions of lipids. The group prioritized potential research areas and mapped out nearly 20 research topics relative to lipids, meat lipids and heart disease.
Five research areas
Five areas of research were identified as being most promising for the meat industry to pursue in its quest to find out how much of a risk lipids, fat and cholesterol in meat products present regarding heart disease:
-- Obtain current and accurate data on the arachidonic acid content of meats, and evaluate bio-availability aspects such as absorption.
-- Evaluate epidemiology data to examine the profile of meat consumption in people with high levels of homocysteinemia. Conversely, look at incidence of homocysteinemia in people with different levels of meat consumption.
-- Push for regulatory approval of stearic acid on the label of foods and get allowance to remove stearic acid from the saturated fat content on the food label. This would make meat products more attractive because it would reduce the saturated fatty acid content of meats.
-- Evaluate high protein to improve or ameliorate Syndrome X-problems with insulin resistance in obesity, which leads to higher risks of heart disease.
-- Evaluate human studies (epidemiology) to calculate what effect current meat intake levels have on blood cholesterol levels.
Producers must approve funding for check-off research in these areas before research begins.
Meat Facts
-- A new check-off funded dietary intake study found that on average, Americans consume 2.2 servings a day from the Meat Group of the Food Guide Pyramid. The Pyramid recommends two to three daily servings of meat.
-- Meat is leaner than it used to be. Today's beef in the retail case, for example, has 27 percent less fat than 10 years ago while pork has 31 percent less fat.
-- Among today's leaner meat choices are: beef round steak, chuck arm roast, sirloin, tenderloin, top loin, pork center loin chop, fresh or cured ham, Canadian bacon, veal cutlet and leg of lamb.
-- USDA statistics show that Americans consume an annual average of 112 pounds of red meat-beef, pork, lamb and veal.
-- The meat industry has spent more than $3.5 million in food safety research over the past three years to help combat food-borne illness.
Source: National Live Stock and Meat Board