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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCarnitine 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/
SoCalDem
(103,856 posts)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)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)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.