Media Release
April 8 2008
Putting pork to the test
UniSA’s
Nutritional Physiology Centre is about to put pork to the test in a
new study to determine the health benefits of regular pork consumption
and its potential for reducing body fat and cardiovascular risk factors.
The study aims to establish the relationship between consumption of lean pork and markers of cardiometabolic health, including body weight, body fat, blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure.
Research Fellow at the Nutritional Physiology Centre, Dr Karen Murphy, said that the study is one of the first of its kind to focus specifically on pork and its associated health benefits.
“Pork is the most widely eaten meat in the world, but there is currently little evidence to demonstrate the potential health benefits associated with eating it as part of a high protein diet,” said Dr Murphy.
“Previous studies have shown that high protein diets containing lean cuts of meat can improve a number of cardiovascular risk factors, but interestingly, most research in this area has focussed on lean red meat.”
Dr Murphy said that pork had a bit of an ”image issue”, in that is it often viewed as unhealthy and high in saturated fat.
“It is actually very lean when all visible fat is trimmed and is a good source of protein, antioxidants, B group vitamins and folate.
“We hope to demonstrate through this study that as well as being nutritious, regular consumption of pork can reduce body fat and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”
The study will be conducted over six months and will require 150 volunteers, half of which will be required to eat up to seven serves of pork per week.
Volunteers must be aged between 18 and 65, non-smokers and classified as overweight with a BMI of greater than or equal to 25.
Those interesting in participating should call (08) 8302 2098 for more information.
Contact for interview
- Dr Karen Murphy office (08) 8302 1033 email Karen Murphy@unisa.edu.au
Media contact
- Linda Hein office (08) 8302 0965 mobile 0411 257 029 email linda.hein@unisa.edu.au