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Randomized trial · measured lab tests or safety

6-week trial in 102 men: bean diet, lower cholesterol but lower B12 and iodine

Bäck and colleagues · European journal of nutrition · 2025

Original title: Nutritional and health benefits of a partial substitution of red and processed meat with non-soy legumes: a 6-week randomized controlled trial in healthy working-age men.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to harm

The bean group had lower total and LDL cholesterol (both P < 0.001), BMI and weight (both P = 0.009). They also had lower vitamin B12 status (P = 0.022) and iodine status (P = 0.041).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
102 people · Healthy working-age men, average age 38
What was tested
760 g a week of red and processed meat vs 200 g a week plus bean foods, for 6 weeks
What it measured
Lab tests or markers
Daily amount
760 g/week
How long
6 weeks
Trial registration
NCT04599920
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
European journal of nutrition, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40828321. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • •Medium size: 102 people.
  • –Short: 6 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • –Measured lab tests or markers, which stand in for cancer, heart disease and death. A better marker does not always mean better health.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: cancer and heart disease

    0

    Not done yet. This is the step that would answer the question.

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    6

    2 benefit, 4 harm

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  4. Population studies

    12

    1 benefit, 2 mixed, 1 no difference, 8 harm

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does red meat raise cancer and heart disease risk?”

Linked to higher risk, especially processed meat.

Confidence: low. Based on 30 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Of the other 5 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 3 harm. This one found harm. It agrees with most of them.

Other papers on the same step

See all 30 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The reviewer corrected 1 field after reading the abstract. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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