| As the smell of grilling meat starts to fill the air on spring and summer evenings, it helps to know the hard cold facts about eating red meat. Red may age us faster, and carnitine may be the culprit. We can avoid greater risk of developing heart disease by sticking to veggies and fish in our diet most of the time. |
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A diet rich in red meat has long been recognized as a risk factor for atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), but the saturated fat content of lean red meat appears to account for only some of the increased risk of a carnivorous lifestyle. Carnitine may be a culprit for additional risks, reports the Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic. Carnitine gets its name from carnis (meaning flesh), the Latin root of the word carnivore, because it is abundant in red meat. It is present at significantly lower levels in other forms of meat and dairy products. Carnitine is also a nutrient that may increase energy if taken short-term, but the new studies suggest that long-term exposure to carnitine may lead to increased hardening of blood vessel walls.This situation is related to the community of microbes that live in your gut — called the “microbiome.” Trillions of bacteria live in your intestines and aid in the digestion of food. A diet with regular exposure to meat, or carnitine, can shift the composition of the microbes within your gut. Bacteria that like carnitine appear to generate a metabolite that promotes heart disease. Research studies have shown that the microbiomes of omnivores (who eat both animal and vegetable products) were found to be dramatically different from those of vegans and vegetarians. Omnivores contained much more of a substance that deposits LDL cholesterol in your arteries’ walls, and leads to development of coronary artery disease.
How much red meat can you eat without this problem? Science doesn’t know. Some studies have suggested that eating meat rarely, about once a month, does not change the microbiome. This new Cleveland Clinic study, indicates that eating red meat more than once a week is associated with increased stroke as well as other aging processes like dementia, wrinkling, impotence and heart attacks. Bottom line: Limit your consumption of red meat to less than 4 ounces per week until another approach may be offered in 6 months. |
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