Consuming Mushrooms When Adopting a Healthy Mediterranean-Style Dietary Pattern Does Not Influence Short-Term Changes of Most Cardiometabolic Disease Risk Factors in Healthy Middle-Aged and Older Adults.

BACKGROUND: Mushrooms are a nutritious food, though knowledge of the effects of mushroom consumption on cardiometabolic risk factors is limited and inconsistent. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effects of consuming mushrooms as part of a healthy United States Mediterranean-style dietary pattern (MED) on traditional and emerging cardiometabolic disease (CMD) risk factors. We hypothesized that adopting a MED diet with mushrooms would lead to greater improvements in multiple CMD risk factors. METHODS: Using a randomized, parallel study design, 60 adults (36 females, 24 males; aged 46 ± 12 y; body mass index 28.3 ± 2.84 kg/m2, mean ± standard deviation) without diagnosed CMD morbidities consumed a MED diet (all foods provided) without (control with breadcrumbs) or with 84 g/d of Agaricus bisporus (White Button, 4 d/wk) and Pleurotus ostreatus (Oyster, 3 d/wk) mushrooms for 8 wk. Fasting baseline and postintervention outcome measurements were traditional CMD risk factors, including blood pressure and fasting serum lipids, lipoproteins, glucose, and insulin. Exploratory CMD-related outcomes included lipoprotein particle sizes and indexes of inflammation. RESULTS: Adopting the MED-mushroom diet compared with the MED-control diet without mushrooms improved fasting serum glucose (change from baseline -2.9 ± 1.18 compared with 0.6 ± 1.10 mg/dL; time × group P = 0.034). Adopting the MED diet, independent of mushroom consumption, reduced serum total cholesterol (-10.2 ± 3.77 mg/dL; time P = 0.0001). Concomitantly, there was a reduction in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, buoyant HDL2b, and apolipoprotein A1, and an increase in lipoprotein(a) concentrations (main effect of time P < 0.05 for all). There were no changes in other measured CMD risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: Consuming a Mediterranean-style healthy dietary pattern with 1 serving/d of whole Agaricus bisporus and Pleurotus ostreatus mushrooms improved fasting serum glucose but did not influence other established or emerging CMD risk factors among middle-aged and older adults classified as overweight or obese but with clinically normal cardiometabolic health. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov/study/NCT04259229?term=NCT04259229&rank=1.

Effects of Consuming Ounce-Equivalent Portions of Animal- vs. Plant-Based Protein Foods, as Defined by the Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Essential Amino Acids Bioavailability in Young and Older Adults: Two Cross-Over Randomized Controlled Trials.

BACKGROUND: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) recommends consuming a variety of "Protein Foods" based on "ounce-equivalent" (oz-eq) portions. No study has assessed the same oz-eq portions of animal- vs. plant-based protein foods on essential amino acid (EAA) bioavailability for protein anabolism in young and older adults. OBJECTIVES: We assessed the effects of consuming two oz-eq portions of pork, eggs, black beans, and almonds on postprandial EAA bioavailability in young and older adults. METHODS: We conducted two investigator-blinded, randomized crossover trials in young (n = 30; mean age ± SD: 26.0 ± 4.9 y) and older adults (n = 25; mean age ± SD: 64.2 ± 6.6 y). Participants completed four testing sessions where they consumed a standardized meal with two oz-eq of either unprocessed lean pork, whole eggs, black beans, or sliced almonds. Blood samples were taken at baseline and 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 min postprandially. Plasma EAA bioavailability was based on postprandial integrated positive areas under the curve. RESULTS: Participant age did not affect EAA bioavailability among the four protein foods tested. Two oz-eq portions of pork (7.36 g EAA) and eggs (5.38 g EAA) resulted in greater EAA bioavailability than black beans (3.02 g EAA) and almonds (1.85 g EAA) in young and older adults, separately or combined (p < 0.0001 for all). Pork resulted in greater EAA bioavailability than eggs in young adults (p < 0.0001), older adults (p = 0.0007), and combined (p < 0.0001). There were no differences in EAA bioavailability between black beans and almonds. CONCLUSIONS: The same "oz-eq" portions of animal- and plant-based protein foods do not provide equivalent EAA content and postprandial bioavailability for protein anabolism in young and older adults.