REPLACING MEAT WITH PLANT-BASED ALTERNATIVES REDUCES CHOLESTEROL AND WEIGHT

A study led by a researcher from the University of Granada and carried out in collaboration with the University of Castilla-La Mancha and the Francisco de Vitoria University has shown that replacing meat consumption with plant-based alternatives that simulate meat products would reduce total cholesterol (6%), LDL cholesterol (12%) and even body weight (1%) in the short term (1 to 8 weeks). The result of the research, led by Rubén Fernández Rodríguez, postdoctoral researcher in the group headed by Professor Jonatan Ruiz Ruiz, of the Faculty of Sport Sciences at the University of Granada and director of the Sport and Health University Research Institute (iMUDS), has been published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition under the title: Plant-based meat alternatives and cardiometabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis (Alternativas vegetales a la carne and cardio metabolic health: a systematic review and meta-analysis in Spanish).

The researchers analyzed eight previous investigations that included data from seven randomized clinical trials that evaluated different interventions based on replacing meat consumption with plant-based alternatives, formulated using proteins extracted from fungi, vegetables and/or legumes, applied to a total of 369 adults free of cardiovascular disease. This is the first systematic review and meta-analysis that sought to determine the effectiveness of replacing meat with plant-based alternatives that we can find on the market today in terms of cardiometabolic health, which, following the recent documentary based on the article by Professor C. Gardner of Stanford University, continues to increase in popularity in society.

The results, despite the fact that few studies have explored their effects, reaffirm the possible benefits to cardiometabolic health of replacing meat consumption with these plant-based alternatives. It should be noted that these products simulate meat in organoleptic characteristics (texture, aroma, flavor) and in nutritional composition, therefore, they could be considered as a previous step to the transition towards more vegetable-based diets without giving up the 'experience of consuming meat'.

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2025-01-28T13:17:57Z