By Jimmy Downs

Tuesday April 9, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Red meat has been associated with increased risk of heart disease.   But many people may take chances because they would think that is only an association and no trial has really proved that the risk of heart disease is caused by red meat consumption.

A new study (1) in Nature Medicine now provides evidence suggesting that red meat may indeed increase risk of heart disease as researchers found intestinal microbiota can metabolize dietary l-carnitine found high in red meat, to produce trimethylamine-N-oxide, which accelerates atherosclerosis in mice.

Earlier the researchers demonstrated that choline and phosphatidylcholine can be converted into trimethylamine like l-carnitine, which can be further metabolized to produce proatherogenic trimethylamine-N-oxide.

Interestingly, some studies (2) tried to prove l-carnitine, which is sold as a dietary supplement, may be protective against heart dysfunction induced by choline deficiency.

References

1 Koeth RA et al. Intestinal microbiota metabolism of l-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis. Nat Med. 2013 Apr 7. doi: 10.1038/nm.3145.  

2 Strilakou AA et al. Heart dysfunction induced by choline-deficiency in adult rats: the protective role of L-carnitine.  Eur J Pharmacol. 2013 Apr 2. doi:pii: S0014-2999(13)00215-X. 10.1016/j.ejphar.2013.03.025.