The Study
Effects of Minimally Processed Red Meat Within a Plant-Forward Diet on Biomarkers of Physical and Cognitive Aging: A Randomized Controlled Crossover Feeding Trial
This study compared two diets in older adults: one with a little bit of unprocessed pork and one with lentils. It found small changes in blood markers, but couldn't prove one diet was definitively better. It's like testing two types of sneakers — you can see which one feels better for a few weeks, but you can't say one is magically healthier for everyone.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Scientists gave older adults two diets for 18 weeks—one with pork, one with lentils—both healthy and plant-focused, to see if pork was bad for them.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 553 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Even though pork had small benefits, they weren't strong enough to say it's definitively better than lentils—but it didn't hurt either.
- 2Both diets helped.
- 3Pork lowered insulin more and raised good cholesterol a bit, and people lost less muscle.
- 4But the differences between pork and lentils weren't big enough to say one was clearly better.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences
Year
2025
Authors
Saba Vaezi, Bruna O. de Vargas, Jessica L. Freeling, Lee Weidauer, Moul Dey
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who eat meat have health outcomes that are neither worse nor better than those who eat less meat, after accounting for differences in income, education, and daily habits.
In adults aged 65 and older, eating minimally processed pork and lentils as part of a plant-forward diet does not reduce grip strength or the ability to rise from a chair over 18 weeks.
In adults aged 65 and older, swapping 162 grams of lentils per day for lean pork in a nutrient-dense, plant-focused diet for 18 weeks is linked to a modest decrease in fasting insulin and a small rise in HDL cholesterol, but the differences between the diets were not statistically significant.
In adults aged 65 and older, eating 162 grams of lean pork daily for 18 weeks while following a nutrient-dense, plant-forward diet leads to the same amount of lean body mass loss as eating an equivalent number of calories from lentils.
In adults aged 65 and older, eating a healthy diet rich in plants and either lean pork or lentils for 18 weeks increases levels of neuroactive metabolites and bioactive amino acids, and the specific protein source does not matter as much as the overall quality of the diet.
Among adults aged 65 and older, a diet based on whole plant foods with either pork or lentils as the protein source was consistently followed and did not cause significant problems over 18 weeks.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.