Certain dietary foods have an anti-inflammatory effect against colitis in an animal model. Beef is a highly nutritious food source and contains high amounts of protein and minerals. In addition, an antioxidant octapeptide derived from beef has been reported to exert anti-proliferative activity against colorectal cancer cells. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of beef powder supplementation on colitis induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) in mice. Male C57BL/6J mice aged five weeks were fed a diet containing 10% or 20% Hanwoo round (HR) beef powder for 42 days. For the last 7 days of the experiment, 3% DSS was dissolved in the drinking water to induce colitis. Inflammatory parameters from serum and colitis were evaluated. The results revealed that supplementation with 20% HR protected colon shortening against DSS-induced colitis. Histological colitis score was significantly reduced by 20% HR supplementation. Moreover, serum triglyceride and total cholesterol levels were significantly reduced by dietary 20% HR supplementation compared to that in the DSS group, with increasing excretion of total cholesterol and triglyceride in the faeces of mice. Supplementation with 20% HR decreased the MDA contents and increased the GSH level in the colonic tissue, significantly. Moreover, the Th1/Th2 cytokine ratio and expression of COX-2 protein were markedly decreased compared with those in DSS-treated mice. These results indicated that supplementation with dietary round beef powder for 42 days protects against DSS-induced colitis in mice by alleviating oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines production and protein expression in the colonic tissue.
Kim et al. (2026) studied this question.