Eating Lean Beef Daily Can Help Lower Cholesterol

Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD) Study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

To see the BOLD Study Fact Sheet, including a healthy beef recipe, click here.

The latest research on heart health and lean beef presents a new way of thinking: lean beef can be part of a solution to one of America’s greatest health challenges. The BOLD Study demonstrated that a diet including lean beef every day is as effective in lowering total and LDL “bad” cholesterol as the gold standard heart diet, DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension).

Overall, study participants experienced a 10%decrease in LDL cholesterol compared to baseline in both the BOLD and BOLD-PLUS diets when less than 7% of calories come from saturated fat.

The study used rigorously designed research to investigate the effects of cholesterol-lowering diets with varying amounts of lean beef. In the study, 36 participants were randomly assigned and rotated through four moderated diets for five weeks each:

• Healthy American Diet (HAD): more refined grains; full-fat dairy; oil and butter to reflect American dietary habits
• DASH diet: fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy; lean protein, but limited red meat; limited saturated fat
• BOLD diet: fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy; lean beef (4 oz./day) used as lean protein; limited saturated fat
• BOLD-PLUS diet: fruits and vegetables; low-fat dairy; lean beef (5.4 oz./day) used as lean protein; limited saturated fat

When included as part of a healthy diet, lean choices--such as top sirloin, tenderloin, T-bone Steak, and 95% lean ground beef--can reduce the risk of heart disease. In fact, 17 of the top 25 most popular fresh meat cuts sold at retail are lean.