White & red meat have the same effect on your cholesterol levels

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — New research has found that white meat isn't necessarily a healthier alternative to red meat.

White meat was found to have the same effect on cholesterol levels as red meat, according to a new study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

To conduct their study, researchers randomly assigned 113 participants to a high saturated fat diet or a low saturated fat groups.

They also went through three different diets: a red meat diet, a white meat diet and a non-meat protein diet. The red meat diet mainly used beef while the white meat diet consisted of chicken and turkey. Legumes, nuts, grains and soy products were used during the non-meat protein diet.

Results show that both red and white meat caused an increase of LDL cholesterol levels in participants, despite the amount of saturated fat in the diet.

Conversely, the study found that eating a plant protein diet had the best benefit for cholesterol.

LDL cholesterol is known as the "bad" cholesterol as it builds up in the arteries and could potentially cause a heart attack or a stroke, according to CNN.

Senior author of the study, Ronald Kraus, was quoted by a University of California San Francisco news release as saying, "When we planned this study, we expected red meat to have a more adverse effect on blood cholesterol levels than white meat, but we were surprised that this was not the case."

He noted that there may be other effects of red meat consumption that could be responsible for heart disease, adding that the effects should be explored in more detail.