Monday, April 8, 2013

A New Culprit for Heart Disease

From this blog post I learned a lot about red meat and how its fat is speculated to be a cause of heart disease. In this investigation, scientists tested meat-eaters, vegans, and mice. I learned that the cause of heart disease coming from red-meat (of what little there is) is not from the fat or cholesterol. The actual culprit is a little chemical that is "burped out" from bacteria in the intestines after people eat red meat that is later converted by the liver into a chemical called TMAO. I also learned from this study that meat eaters with regular TMAO in their blood "readily make" TMAO after swallowing pills with carnitine. In conclusion to this investigation, scientists found out that this slight increase at risk for heart disease was actually caused by this carnitine and partly the TMAO that was produced by the gut bacteria. I learned that it is mostly found in red-steak and energy drinks so it is best to eat and drink them in smaller portions.



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