Academic Journal
Replacing red meat with non-soy legumes alters choline metabolites but not systemic inflammation or proxies of gut barrier function in healthy males in a 6-week RCT.
| Τίτλος: | Replacing red meat with non-soy legumes alters choline metabolites but not systemic inflammation or proxies of gut barrier function in healthy males in a 6-week RCT. |
|---|---|
| Συγγραφείς: | Pietilä TK; Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland., Cantini E; Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland., Itkonen ST; Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland., Salonen A; Human Microbiome Research Program, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Bacteriology and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland., Pajari AM; Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. Electronic address: anne-maria.pajari@helsinki.fi. |
| Πηγή: | The Journal of nutritional biochemistry [J Nutr Biochem] 2026 Aug; Vol. 154, pp. 110355. Date of Electronic Publication: 2026 Mar 27. |
| Τύπος έκδοσης: | Journal Article; Randomized Controlled Trial |
| Γλώσσα: | English |
| Στοιχεία περιοδικού: | Publisher: Elsevier Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9010081 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1873-4847 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 09552863 NLM ISO Abbreviation: J Nutr Biochem Subsets: MEDLINE |
| Imprint Name(s): | Publication: <1996->: New York, NY : Elsevier Science Original Publication: Stoneham, MA, USA : Butterworths, c1990- |
| Ιατρικοί όροι (MeSH): | Choline*/metabolism , Choline*/blood , Inflammation*/metabolism , Fabaceae* , Red Meat*, Methylamines/urine ; Humans ; Male ; Adult ; Intestinal Barrier Function ; Middle Aged ; Diet |
| Περίληψη: | While the health burden of high red and processed meat intake has been acknowledged in observational studies, studying the effects and mechanisms in controlled settings with healthy participants has generated mixed findings. We aimed to investigate whether a partial replacement of unprocessed and processed red meat (from 760 g/wk to 200 g/wk) with non-soy legume foods in apparently healthy men (age 37.9 year, BMI 25.5±3.3 kg/m2, mean ± SD) yields beneficial effects on low-grade inflammation through changes in proxies of gut barrier function and choline metabolites. This study was a randomized, 6-wk parallel trial with groups (allocation ratio 1:1) following their habitual diet with a reference red meat intake (Meat, n=51) or with partial substitution with legumes (Bean, n=51). We report no major differences in high-sensitivity-CRP or glycoprotein acetyls, Olink cytokines, and immune modulators between the groups at 6-week using one-way baseline-adjusted analysis of covariance. Lower concentration of plasma cholines, and higher urine dimethylamine excretion were observed in the Bean group (all P<.05), while no differences in urine trimethylamine-N-Oxide (TMAO) or gut barrier function occurred. We found BMI, TMAO, and gut barrier function explaining the variance within the Olink biomarkers, and linked some to diet, TMAO, and/or gut barrier function. Partial replacement of red meat with non-soy legumes for 6-weeks altered choline metabolites but did not lead to significant changes in low-grade inflammation. Our results highlight the robustness of the inflammatory markers to changes in healthy individuals with an intact gut barrier. The trial is registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT04599920. URL of registration https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT0459992. (Copyright © 2026 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.) |
| Competing Interests: | Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. |
| Contributed Indexing: | Keywords: Plant-based foods; TMAO; choline; gut barrier function; legumes; low-grade inflammation; red meat |
| Molecular Sequence: | ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00459992; NCT04599920; NCT00459992; NCT04599920; NCT00459992; NCT04599920 |
| Substance Nomenclature: | N91BDP6H0X (Choline) 0 (Methylamines) |
| Entry Date(s): | Date Created: 20260329 Date Completed: 20260714 Latest Revision: 20260811 |
| Update Code: | 20260812 |
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2026.110355 |
| PMID: | 41905546 |
| Βάση Δεδομένων: | MEDLINE |
| ISSN: | 1873-4847 |
|---|---|
| DOI: | 10.1016/j.jnutbio.2026.110355 |