Our results indicate that current advice to restrict red meat and not white meat should not be based on their plasma lipid effects. Indeed, other effects of unprocessed red meat consumption could contribute to adverse effects on CVD risk (41, 42). In this regard, while we found no significant effects of dietary protein source on blood pressure, fasting glucose, or endothelial reactivity, we have reported separately that the red meat dietary intervention resulted in significant increases in plasma concentrations of trimethylamine-N-oxide (43), a metabolite derived from intestinal bacterial metabolism of carnitine (44) that has been linked to incidence of CVD (44, 45). Moreover, recent meta-analyses of prospective cohort studies reported increased CVD incidence associated with processed red meat (3, 46) suggesting that preservatives such as sodium, nitrates, and their by-products may contribute to the association between total red meat intake and CVD risk. Dietary intake of heme iron, abundant in red meat, has also been associated with increased CVD risk (47), likely through mechanisms involving lipid peroxidation and inflammation.