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Participants' levels of LDL cholesterol, sometimes referred to simply as \"bad\" cholesterol, dropped on average 10.8 milligrams per deciliter, which researchers found to be statistically significant.

\"PHOTO:
Kristi Blokhin/Shutterstock
PHOTO: Closeup of two uncooked vegan burger patties.
>

The lead researcher Christopher Gardner, Ph.D., professor of medicine at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, said one of the main outcomes they looked to track was the levels of a molecule, trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO. TMAO has been linked to cardiovascular disease and Gardner called it \"an emerging risk factor.\"

The scientists found that TMAO levels were lower when participants were eating the plant-based meat diets.

\"For the participants who had the plant-based diet first, during which they ate no meat, we basically made them vegetarians, and in so doing, may have inadvertently blunted their ability to make TMAO,\" he said. \"Whether this type of approach could be used as a strategy for decreasing cardiovascular disease risk remains to be seen.\"

Additional findings from the study included that participants lost two pounds, on average, during the plant-based portion of the study. They also found similar sodium intake and blood pressure levels between the animal-based and plant-based phases of the study, which they say debunks the myth that consuming plant-based meats results in higher sodium intake.

The real meat used during the meat intervention was a combination of beef, pork and chicken products. The beef product used 80% lean and 20% fat ground beef; while that is a common red meat product for most Americans, the meat itself had noticeably higher saturated fat per serving than did the plant-based \"meat.\"

ABC News medical unit resident Nate Wood, MD, explained that a comparison using 90-95% lean ground beef or other lean meat products may have provided different results for saturated fat that likely would not have been present.

The \"swap meat study\" was funded by an unrestricted gift from Beyond Meat and researchers used the company's products to compare the health effects of meat with plant-based alternatives, however Stanford Medicine said in a press release said that Beyond Meat was not involved in designing or conducting the study and did not participate in data analysis.

Additional funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

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