Is White Meat Just As “Bad” For You As Red?

September 9, 2019

As you can probably tell by the title of this newsletter, I have a strong opinion about this question, which was just analyzed in a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  And here's why:

1.  Red meat isn't bad for you in the first place, so the idea that white meat could be "just as bad" is ridiculous.  I went over this in detail in my other blog post on the subject.

2.  Study participants were shown to have an increase in LDL cholesterol after eating red meat -- but increased LDL cholesterol isn't actually an accurate marker or heart disease risk as shown here. 

3.  This study compared chicken to red meat, which might have been an interesting comparison if it were comparing pastured chicken to grass-fed red meat, both of which are much healthier than their mass produced counterparts, but it doesn't.

4.  If you read the results of the study, it says, "LDL cholesterol and apoB were higher with red and white meat than with nonmeat.  This was due primarily to increases in large LDL particles, whereas small + medium LDL and total/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were unaffected by protein source."  This is key because increases in large LDL particles are WHAT YOU WANT.  The small, dense LDL particles are what contribute to heart disease.  Read more on that here.

5.  Contrary to the statement in the attention-grabbing headline, the article analyzing the study reported, " the effects of white and red meats on participants' cholesterol levels were identical when saturated fat levels were equivalent."   Oy.