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Quixote1818

(28,904 posts)
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 06:04 PM Apr 2013

Carnitine chemical, not fat, may explain link between red meat and heart disease


Researchers from the Cleveland Clinic have discovered it's not the saturated fats or cholesterol from a fatty steak that's triggering heart problems, but a chemical process involving gut bacteria and a compound found in meat called carnitine that may be to blame.

"Carnitine metabolism suggests a new way to help explain why a diet rich in red meat promotes atherosclerosis," study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, section head of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation in the Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, said in a written statement.

Study: Red meat raises risk of dying, risk higher with processed meats
Mediterranean diet may be better for your heart than cutting down on fat


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http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-204_162-57578422/carnitine-chemical-not-fat-may-explain-link-between-red-meat-and-heart-disease/
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Carnitine chemical, not fat, may explain link between red meat and heart disease (Original Post) Quixote1818 Apr 2013 OP
(relative) Wealth & longevity have something to do with it as well SoCalDem Apr 2013 #1
Interesting finding, since canitine is sold as a supplement in health stores FarCenter Apr 2013 #2
CPT1 and CPT2 are both membrane implanting proteins, but you have to ingest them. rmax Apr 2013 #3

SoCalDem

(103,856 posts)
1. (relative) Wealth & longevity have something to do with it as well
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 06:25 PM
Apr 2013

as does more investigative medicine & fancy machines/tests to diagnose it.

When most people were "poor" (pre WWII), people raised their own chickens/grew their own veggies....did physical labor and mostly died from uncontrolled , sudden illnesses / farm accidents (or other accidents / fires / industrial accidents /childbirth etc)...They often died at quite young (by today's standards) ages.

Frail children died in infancy/childhood.

As relative wealth spread, so did beef eating, and as jobs required less physicality, the sedentary lifestyles started catching up with us.

We eat more meat now and we live longer..and much of what we eat is highly "processed" and chock full of who-knows-what?

 

FarCenter

(19,429 posts)
2. Interesting finding, since canitine is sold as a supplement in health stores
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 06:56 PM
Apr 2013

For example, from GNC http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2133706&CAWELAID=293850986&cagpspn=pla

It is synthesized by the body, and it is needed for fat metabolism.

But this looks like a case of too much, in combination with specific gut bacteria, being a bad thing. Note that when the vegan in the experiment ate red meat, the carnitine was not converted to the harmful TMAO, presumably because their gut did not harbor the bacteria capable of doing the conversion.

Alternative medicine practitioners recommend carnitine supplements.

 

rmax

(93 posts)
3. CPT1 and CPT2 are both membrane implanting proteins, but you have to ingest them.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 09:11 PM
Apr 2013

The article is rudimentary at best, but consider the audience. Red meat is the primary source of them both. Processed meat is sort of a weird term since it pretty much encompases red meat. CPT isn't a fat. It just behaves like one and it piggybacks on McFood.

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