Ditching red meat in favour of vegan substitutes cuts heart disease risk, say scientists

People who changed from meat to plants had drop in dangerous molecule, researchers find

Plant-based meat substitutes were linked with lower heart disease risks in the study funded by Beyond Meat (Beyond Meat)

Swapping red meat for certain plant-based meat alternatives can cut the risk of suffering heart disease, scientists have found.

American researchers who studied people eating both meat and meat substitutes discovered those who ate red meat at least twice a day had higher levels of a molecule that makes people susceptible to cardiovascular ill health.

A team at Stanford Medicine in California gathered a group of more than 30 people and assigned them to two different diets, each one for eight weeks. One diet involved at least two daily servings of meat – mostly red – and one meant at least two daily servings of plant-based meat.