1. Introduction
CVD
These authors contributed equally to this work.We hypothesized that consumption of high-fat (HF) ground beef (24% fat) would not affect plasma concentrations of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) or low-density lipoprotein (LDL-C), whereas low-fat (LF) ground beef (5% fat) would decrease HDL-C and LDL-C concentrations. In a randomized 2-period crossover, controlled feeding trial, 25 men (mean age and body mass index, 40 years and 31.2) consumed 115-g HF or LF patties, 5/week for 5 weeks with a 4-week washout. The HF treatment increased % energy from fat (Beef is a popular food worldwide, and the United States (U.S.) consumes 21% of the world’s beef production, with China, the European Union, and Brazil consuming 16%, 13%, and 13%, respectively, of the world’s production (As indicated above, ground beef is a popular component in U.S. diet, and as such, ground beef constitutes one of the primary dietary sources of saturated fatty acids. In addition, the total fat and saturated fatty acid content can be changed readily and accurately during the formulation of ground beef preparations. Therefore, we conducted several randomized, controlled trials with men and/or postmenopausal women in which we tested the effects of ground beef differing in fatty acid composition on risk factors for CVD. Adams et al. [Our previous studies also demonstrated that ground beef interventions elicit differences in lipoprotein particle sizes. LDL particle diameter decreased in men following a 35% fat ground beef intervention [The primary outcome of the current randomized controlled trial was to document the effects of high-fat (HF) ground beef (27 g/patty, 24% fat by weight) and low-fat (LF) ground beef (6 g/patty, 5% fat by weight) on voluntary nutrient intake, and to establish if changes in major macronutrient intake were responsible for any changes we observed in lipoprotein cholesterol concentrations. We hypothesized that consumption of HF ground beef for 5 weeks would reduce the voluntary intake of carbohydrates but have no effect on HDL-C or LDL-C concentrations. Conversely, consumption of LF ground beef for 5 weeks would depress HDL-C and LDL-C concentrations.