Elsevier

Meat Science

Volume 163, May 2020, 108076
Meat Science

Review
Producing high-oleic acid beef and the impact of ground beef consumption on risk factors for cardiovascular disease: A review

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Abstract

This review summarizes the effects of high-oleic acid oil and high-oleic acid ground beef interventions on risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in human trials, and also summarizes studies designed to increase the amount of oleic acid (18:1n-9) in beef. In three human trials, high-oleic acid oils and high-oleic acid ground beef increased plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol single bond over baseline values or over high-carbohydrate diets. Neither low-oleic acid nor high-oleic acid ground beef increased risk factors for CVD, confirming earlier studies that used high-oleic acid oils. High-oleic acid beef can be obtained from cattle fed a corn-based finishing diet to USDA Grade of USDA Choice or greater; from beef from cattle with Japanese genetics; and from the brisket. Beef from grass-fed cattle contains more n-3 fatty acids than beef from conventionally-fed cattle, but also contains greater amounts of saturated and trans-fatty acids.

Introduction

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the U.S., and risk factors include elevated plasma concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and depressed high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLsingle bondC). For over five decades the general public has been cautioned to consume diets containing little or no red meat due to its inherent saturated fatty acid (SFA) content. Early research concluded that dietary SFA such as palmitic acid (16:0) elevated plasma LDL-C concentration; dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) such as linoleic acid (18:2n-6) reduced LDL-C concentrations (Hegsted, McGandy, Myers, & Stare, 1965; Keys, Anderson, & Grande, 1965). Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) previously were reported to have little or no effect on cholesterol concentrations in humans. However, oleic acid (18:1n-9) later was found to lower plasma LDL-C concentrations and increase HDL-C concentrations in human studies (Bonanome & Grundy, 1988; Grundy, Florentin, Nix, & Whelan, 1988; Kris-Etherton et al., 1999). Paradoxically, palmitic acid also increases HDL-C concentrations in controlled, randomized crossover trials (RCT) (reviewed by Kris-Etherton & Yu, 1997). Relative to pork (the other primary red meat in the U.S. diet), beef is higher in palmitic acid and stearic acid (18:0) (St. John et al., 1987), but stearic acid has little effect on LDL-C or HDL-C concentrations (Kris-Etherton & Hu, 1997). Details of early human trials are presented in this review, as well as the results of four human studies that compared the effects low-oleic acid ground beef to high-oleic acid ground beef on risk factors for CVD (Adams, Walzem, Smith, Tseng, & Smith, 2010; Choi, Ghahramany, Walzem, Meade, & Smith, 2018; Gilmore et al., 2011; Gilmore et al., 2013). To our knowledge, these studies remain the only reports of the effects of an intact protein source containing naturally elevated oleic acid on risk factors for CVD. We conclude this review with a discussion of the management of cattle to increase oleic acid in beef, including a discussion of n-3 fatty acids in beef.

Section snippets

Animal fats and risk for cardiovascular disease

Reiser (1973) questioned the science responsible for the condemnation of animal fats in the diet. More current studies similarly have cast doubts on the potentially negative effects of red meat on risk factors for CVD and other causes of mortality. A report of meat consumption and mortality from the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (Rohrmann et al., 2013) reported that a high level of unprocessed red meat intake (> 160 g/d, which included beef, pork, mutton/lamb, horse and goat)

Studies comparing dietary fats and oils

Reiser et al. (1985) documented the effects of supplementary beef fat, coconut oil and safflower oil in plasma lipoproteins of normo-lipidemic men. Nineteen men consumed centrally-prepared lunches and dinners containing 35%EN as fat, 60% of which was the test fat (supplemented in the form of meat dishes, bread spreads, ice cream, and cookies). Plasma HDL-C concentration was greater for men consuming the coconut oil-supplemented diet than for men consuming the beef fat-supplemented diet, but

Diet and time fed a high-concentrate diet

We and others have documented that feeding beef cattle a corn-based diet increases the amount of oleic acid and/or the MUFA:SFA in muscle and adipose tissue (Brooks, Choi, Lunt, Kawachi, & Smith, 2011; Chung et al., 2006; Duckett, Pratt, & Pavan, 2009; Huerta-Leidenz et al., 1996; Xie et al., 1996; Zembayashi, Nishimura, Lunt, & Smith, 1995). (Huerta-Leidenz et al., 1996) reported that the MUFA:SFA of subcutaneous (s.c.) adipose tissue in steers increases with time on a grain-based diet, and

Conclusion

Large-scale retrospective studies that have indicated no association between high-fat, unprocessed red meat intake and risk factors for CVD. Early human trials documented that supplementing diets with high-oleic acid oils decreased LDL-C concentration and frequently elevated HDL-C concentration, whereas our later trials demonstrated that high-oleic acid ground beef interventions consistently increased HDL-C concentration. The amount of oleic acid can be increased in beef realistically by

Funding

Funded in part by the Beef Checkoff and Texas AgriLife Research.

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have not conflict of interest.

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