Meat eaters may have another reason to fret over heart disease besides saturated fat and cholesterol. Researchers with the Section of Preventive Cardiology and Rehabilitation at the Cleveland Clinic have recently discovered that carnitine, a substance found in meat, may cause hardening of the arteries when broken down by specific bacteria during digestion.
Additionally, the more meat people eat, the more vulnerable they are to carnitine’s harmful effects. That’s because as people consume meat, the bacteria needed to break down carnitine multiplies, and hence creates more of the harmful compound that leads to hardened arteries. Stanley Hazen, who authored the study, explains, “A diet high in carnitine actually shifts our gut microbe composition to those that like carnitine, making meat eaters even more susceptible.”
This has led some scientists to wonder whether this is the key to lower rates of heart disease in vegans and vegetarians. It’s been speculated that the absence of dietary cholesterol and lower amounts of saturated fat in a vegan diet alone would have heart health benefits, but a lower level of digestive bacteria that converts carnitine into a dangerous compound may also play a huge role.
Luckily, none of us has to worry about such health risks if we just make the compassionate choice to eat a healthy and humane vegan diet. For more information on how to make the switch, visit ChooseVeg.com.