Red Meat Is Bad For Your Heart, But Possibly For A Previously Unknown Reason

High in saturated fat and dripping cholesterol, many a meat lover has either accepted the risk for heart disease and continued to mow down or heartbreakingly changed their ways. A new study adds another sour ingredient to the recipe. It’s been known that carnitine helps to transport fatty acids into cells where they can be metabolized for energy. But a recent study has shown that the normally do-good carnitine can be made to do bad things for the heart.  And red meat is full of carnitine.

Previous research has shown that carnitine can be converted by microbes in the gut to the substance trimethylamine-N-oxide, or TMAO, which causes atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Atherosclerosis can lead to heart attack, stroke, and death.

To gauge the effects of carnitine in the diet, the study measured both the intake of carnitine and the levels of TMAO in the blood, and checked for associated risk for cardiovascular disease. It involved 2,595 patients under evaluation for heart-related conditions. Based on their diets, the patients were divided into three groups: omnivores, vegans and vegetarians. They found that diets high in carnitine showed a higher risk for heart attack, stroke and death, but only when those diets were accompanied by high levels of TMAO.

The reason for the difference appears to lie in the different profiles of gut bacteria. “The bacteria living in our digestive tracts are dicated by our long-term dietary patterns,” Stanley Hazen, chief of cellular and molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute and lead author of the study, said in a press release. “A diet high in carnitine actually shifts our gut microbe composition to those that like carnitine, making meat eaters even more susceptible to forming TMAO and its artery-clogging effects. Meanwhile, vegans and vegetarians have a signficantly reduced capacity to synthesize TMAO from carnitine, which may explain the cardiovascular health benefits of these diets.”

In a separate experiment, the researchers gave food to mice supplemented with carnitine. They saw TMAO levels spike and the risk for atherosclerosis in the mice doubled.

We’ve always been told that reducing our intake of saturated fat reduces the risk for cardiovascular disease, but a study performed in 2010 turned that idea on its head. Amazingly, the meta-analysis that included data from 347,747 subjects found no link between the amount of saturated fat a person ate and risk for cardiovascular disease.

And while carnitine is not an essential nutrient – our bodies produce enough of it – it is found in a number of dietary supplements used to build muscle and boost energy. Because of the widespread use of these products, Hazen argues, research into a possible link between carnitine supplements and cardiovascular disease is something that needs to be studied more.

So, in the end, the message remains the same, even if it’s not the saturated fat we need to worry about, but the carnitine. Nothing changes for the omnivores, vegans and vegetarians out there. That is, unless the more health-minded are bolstering their performance with protein shakes and energy drinks.