Red meat - bad for the heart

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MunichSchnitzel, sausages, steak - those who eat a lot of red meat damage their vessels. In the long term, there is a risk of stroke and heart attack. Intestinal bacteria play a decisive role in this context.

Red meat contains a substance called L-carnitine. For a long time it was thought that L-carnitine is above all healthy: it boosts fat metabolism and is good for the muscles. However, certain intestinal bacteria convert L-carnitine into the so-called trimethyl-N-oxide (TMAO for short). And that promotes arteriosclerosis, i.e. the calcification of the vessels.

Calcified vessels

Now Dr. In addition to TMAO, Stanley Hazen and his colleagues from the Lerner Research Institute and the Miller Family Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic discovered another, more important substance that is produced when the intestinal microbes break down L-carnitine: gamma-butyrobetaine, which is 100 times as high Amount is produced - and the vessels are also narrowed and stiffened. In experiments with mice, it was the most common substance to which L-carnitine was broken down in the rodent's intestine.

New drugs?

This finding may provide new approaches for therapies that prevent cardiovascular diseases, according to the researchers. For example, new drugs could block certain enzymes in the bacteria that convert L-carnitine into gamma-butyrobetaine. It is, of course, easier to limit the consumption of red meat before arteriosclerosis develops. The World Cancer Research Fund recommends that it shouldn't be more than 300 grams of red meat per week. Not only do the blood vessels suffer from excessive consumption of red meat, the risk of various cancers such as colon cancer also increases.

Against this background, it seems worrying that we Germans consume an average of 60 kilograms of meat per year. If you don't want to reduce your meat consumption completely, you should switch to poultry. Because that is significantly poorer in L-carnitine. (away)

Source: Hazen S.L. et al .: g-Butyrobetaine Is a Proatherogenic Intermediate in Gut Microbial Metabolism of L-Carnitine to TMAO. Cell Metabolism. 2014.

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