Substitution of cooked kidney beans or ground beef in hypercholesterolemic high fat diets reduces plasma and liver lipids in hamsters

Authors: FINLEY, JOHN - Louisiana State University; HOLLIDAY, DARRYL - Louisiana State University; KIM, HYUNSOOK - Hanyang University; Alves Buongiorno, Priscila; SHAO, DONG-YAN - Northwestern Polytechnical University; BARTLEY, GLENN - Former ARS Employee; Yokoyama, Wallace - Wally

Submitted to: Food Production, Processing, and Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/13/2023
Publication Date: 6/3/2023
Citation: Finley, J.W., Holliday, D., Kim, H., Alves Buongiorno, P.L., Shao, D., Bartley, G., Yokoyama, W.H. 2023. Substitution of cooked kidney beans or ground beef in hypercholesterolemic high fat diets reduces plasma and liver lipids in hamsters. Food Production, Processing, and Nutrition. 5. Article 20. https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-023-00135-2.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s43014-023-00135-2

Interpretive Summary: Consumer interest in plant based foods have increased in recent years. One reason is that plant based protein are perceived as healthier. In this study hamsters were fed a high-fat diet similar in fat content to the American diet. This is about 35% fat calories. Ingredients from kidney beans and ground beef were substituted for some of the protein and other ingredients. The beef based diet had higher caloric density and saturated fat content while the bean based diet had lower caloric density and higher polyunsaturated fat. Despite the calorie and fat saturation levels neither the bean or beef groups had significantly different body weights or adipose weights. Both bean and beef diets reduced cholesterol but only the bean diets had significant reductions.

Technical Abstract: This study examined the physiological effects of replacing some of the casein with either a plant based, animal or combination of protein sources in a high-fat diet fed to golden Syrian hamsters. Cooked kidney beans (BN) and beef (Bf) patties drained of fat were fed at 25% and 50% of diet. A combination of BN and Bf (BNBf) was also fed at 25% and 50%. Saturated fat content of the 25% Bf (Bf25) and 50% Bf (Bf50) increased 57% and 215% compared to Control. The Bf diets also increased caloric density compared to the Control. Likewise, the 50% Bn (Bn50) diet had 60% less saturated fat and lower caloric density than the Control. Despite these differences there were no differences in body weight gain or adipose weight between BN of Bf diets and Control. The BN50 diet reduced liver weight and increased caloric intake. The BN diets reduced total plasma cholesterol (TC). The BF diets also reduced TC but the results were not significant. The BN25, BN50 and BNBF50 diets also reduced low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. The BN and BF50 diets reduced liver fat. The BN diets decreased fecal fat excretion while the BF diets increased excretion. This suggests that increased fat excretion might offset the higher total fat and saturated fat of the BF diets to reduce adverse effects on body weight, adipose weight, and cholesterol. The high-fat content of the base (Control) diet may have muted the effects of the diet treatments.