TOPLINE:

Replacing red and processed meat (80 g/wk) with legumes was associated with a lower rate of gallbladder disease, according to a UK Biobank study.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers sought to examine whether replacing red and processed meat, poultry, or fish with legumes is associated with gallbladder disease in a UK population.
• They included a prospective cohort of 121,593 participants (median age, 57 years; 55% women) from the UK Biobank who completed two or more 24-hour dietary assessments.
• The Oxford WebQ — a self‑administered, web‑based 24‑hour dietary questionnaire — was used to assess participants' diets, with the consumption of legumes, meat, poultry, fish, and other food groups depending on the average daily intake from two to five dietary assessments.
• Cases of incident gallbladder disease (including cholelithiasis, cholecystectomy, and cholecystitis) were identified through health registries.

TAKEAWAY:

• Over a median follow-up duration of 10.5 years, 3772 gallbladder disease incidents were noted.
• Replacing 80 g per week of red and processed meat with legumes was linked to a reduced rate of gallbladder disease (hazard ratio, 0.97; 95% CI, 0.95-0.98; P < .001).
• No association was found between replacing poultry or fish with legumes and the rate of gallbladder disease.

IN PRACTICE:

"The modest findings in our study suggest that for a population like that of the UK Biobank cohort, replacing one weekly serving of red and processed meat with legumes and pulses might lead to a lower risk of GBD [gallbladder disease] over time or keep it stable," the authors of the study wrote.

SOURCE:

This study was led by Fie Langmann, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. It was published online on November 12, 2025, in the European Journal of Nutrition.

LIMITATIONS:

Dietary intake was self‑reported via 24‑hour recalls and is prone to random and systematic error. The requirement of multiple assessments may have introduced selection bias by excluding participants with fewer assessments. Some cases of gallbladder disease (eg, asymptomatic cholelithiasis) may have been undiagnosed.

DISCLOSURES:

Open access funding was provided by Aarhus Universitet. This study was funded by Aarhus University and the Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus. Two authors reported receiving funding from various institutions. The authors declared having no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.