from the Journal of Clinical Nutrition
The Mediterranean diet is often touted for its heart-healthy results, based on high consumption of olive oil, grains, fruits, vegetables and fish. However, the traditional Med diet doesn’t address American’s love of red meat. So, Penn State researchers added small portions of lean beef—ideally, two and one-half ounces a day or less, to the Med diet and found the combination was also able to lower the risk for developing heart disease. Researchers noted that while a heart healthy lifestyle can result from the Med diet, there are still important beneficial nutrients in lean beef. Participants in the study all showed lower LDL, the bad kind of cholesterol, compared to the average American diet. The study appeared in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.