Red meat and heart disease: L-carnitine linked to increased risk

By Caroline Scott-Thomas

- Last updated on GMT

Meat eaters produce gut bacteria to metabolise carnitine, while vegans produce much less
Meat eaters produce gut bacteria to metabolise carnitine, while vegans produce much less

Related tags Red meat Nutrition

High intakes of red meat repeatedly have been linked to heart disease, but new research suggests that along with saturated fat and certain preservatives, l-carnitine is another red meat constituent that may contribute to cardiovascular risk.

In a study published in Nature Medicine​, researchers from Cleveland Clinic found specific bacteria in the gut that metabolise l-carnitine into trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a substance that has been linked to hardening of the arteries. In addition, they found that diets high in carnitine promoted the growth of the bacteria that metabolise it, thereby compounding the effect.

"The bacteria living in our digestive tracts are dictated by our long-term dietary patterns,” ​said lead researcher Dr Stanley Hazen. “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 significantly reduced capacity to synthesize TMAO from carnitine, which may explain the cardiovascular health benefits of these diets."

The association between consumption of red meat and heart disease is well-established, but the researchers said the increased risk could not entirely be accounted for by red meat’s saturated fat and cholesterol content.  

They examined carnitine levels in 2,595 heart patients, and found high levels were associated with increased risk of heart disease, heart attack and stroke – but only when TMAO levels were also high. TMAO levels in vegetarian and vegan participants were significantly lower than in omnivores, and they did not produce significant levels of TMAO even after consuming a large amount of carnitine.

In omnivores, however, carnitine consumption promoted TMAO production.

The researchers suggested that better understanding of the role of gut microbiota in heart disease risk could help in the development of new ways to reduce risk.

Carnitine supplement risk?

Carnitine is also taken as a weight loss supplement and is added to some energy drinks. Hazen warned that supplement and energy drink makers may need to exercise caution with the ingredient in light of these findings.

"Carnitine is not an essential nutrient; our body naturally produces all we need,"​ he said. "We need to examine the safety of chronically consuming carnitine supplements as we've shown that, under some conditions, it can foster the growth of bacteria that produce TMAO and potentially clog arteries."

The American Meat Institute (AMI) Foundation's chief scientist Dr Betsy Booren issued a statement in response to the study, in which she said that linking carnitine in red meat to heart disease was an oversimplification of a complex disease.

"It is important to keep in mind that there are many other studies done on L-carnitine that do not show any adverse health effects at a variety of doses,"​ she wrote, adding that the US government's National Institute of Health has a fact sheet​ on L-carnitine that "shows it is safe and essential." 

 

Source: Nature Medicine

Published online ahead of print doi:10.1038/nm.3145

“Intestinal microbiota metabolism of l-carnitine, a nutrient in red meat, promotes atherosclerosis”

Authors: Robert A Koeth, Zeneng Wang,, Bruce S Levison, Jennifer A Buffa, Elin Org, Brendan T Sheehy, Earl B Britt, Xiaoming Fu, Yuping Wu, Lin Li, Jonathan D Smith, Joseph A DiDonato, Jun Chen, Hongzhe Li, Gary D Wu, James D Lewis, Manya Warrier, J Mark Brown, Ronald M Krauss,W H Wilson Tang, Frederic D Bushman, Aldons J Lusis & Stanley L Hazen

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Take Control with Predictive Modeling from Corbion

Take Control with Predictive Modeling from Corbion

Content provided by Corbion | 08-Mar-2024 | Product Brochure

Increased demand for uncured, higher pH formulations and natural products has made the challenge of controlling Listeria difficult. The good news: the...

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Oat Groats – Heat-treated Oat Kernels

Content provided by Lantmännen Biorefineries AB | 06-Dec-2023 | Product Brochure

Lantmännen offers now Oat Groats: Heat-treated oat kernels, also known as oat groats or kilned oats, undergo heat treatment to inhibit enzymes that could...

Related suppliers

6 comments

Show more

Mayo Clinic links L-Carnitine to multiple heart health benefits

Posted by Pat,

Mayo Clinic links L-Carnitine to multiple heart health benefits

http://www.medpagetoday.com/upload/2013/4/12/jmcp_ft88_4_2.pdf


http://www.nutraingredients.com/Research/Mayo-Clinic-review-links-L-Carnitine-to-multiple-heart-health-benefits?nocount

Report abuse

another test tube misadventure?

Posted by james Pott,

A large meta-analysis published in Circulation by Micha et al. covering over 1.2 million participants found that consumption of fresh, unprocessed red meat is not associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), stroke or diabetes. On the other hand, a smaller prospective study including about 121,000 participants from the Nurses Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study did find an association between red meat consumption (both fresh and processed) and total mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer. So all things being equal, chances are your steak is going to be a safe bet while your sausage may not be. And we all know that mice are those little furry humans right? That we can use to find out what we should eat right? Me thinks the grain mafia is running scared and we will see no end of studies like these.

Report abuse

Carnitine unsafe?

Posted by Jonathan Lizotte,

The highest meat consumption (thus carnitine consumption) are countries like the US [120.2](80.5), Canada [94.3](66.2), Australia [115.5](60.3), Argentina [98.3](70.6), Spain [97](43.5), and New Zealand [106.4](76.5).


Low in meat consumption are India [4.4](165.8), Indonesia [11.6](150.8), Pakistan [14.7](222.9), and Bangladesh [4](203.7).

In parenthesis are the death rates per 100k from heart disease. In brackets is annual meat consumption per capita in kilos.

Reference: http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/cause-of-death/coronary-heart-disease/by-country/
http://chartsbin.com/view/12730

A couple years ago when the EXACT same TMAO argument was leveled again choline and choline containing products we learned that mouse and human models do not correlate.

see: http://www.westonaprice.org/blogs/cmasterjohn/2011/04/13/does-dietary-choline-contribute-to-heart-disease/

This is but another witch hunt against supplement takers and meat eaters. It's laughably bad science.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars