Purified Dietary Red and White Meat Proteins Show Beneficial Effects on Growth and Metabolism of Young Rats Compared to Casein and Soy Protein

This study compared the effects of
casein, soy protein (SP), red
(RMP), and white meat (WMP) proteins on growth and metabolism of young
rats. Compared to casein, the ratio of daily feed intake to daily
body weight gain of rats was not changed by meat protein but reduced
by SP by 93.3% (P < 0.05). Feeding RMP and WMP
reduced the liver total cholesterol (TC) contents by 24.3% and 17.8%,
respectively (P < 0.05). Only RMP increased plasma
HDL-cholesterol concentrations (by 12.7%, P <
0.05), whereas SP increased plasma triacylglycerol, TC, and LDL-cholesterol
concentrations by 23.7%, 19.5%, and 61.5%, respectively (P < 0.05). Plasma essential and total amino acid concentrations
were increased by WMP (by 18.8% and 12.4%, P <
0.05) but reduced by SP (by 28.3% and 37.7%, P <
0.05). Twenty-five liver proteins were differentially expressed in
response to different protein sources. Therefore, meat proteins were
beneficial for growth and metabolism of young rats compared to casein
and SP.