Originally published April 16 2013
Eating red meat damages your heart, U.S. scientists verify
by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) A recent highly publicized by mainstream media study supposedly confirms the suspicions of red meat and heart health. But it's not saturated fats they point to as the villain, it's a compound in red meat known as carnitine.
Studies with mice showed that gut bacteria breaks down carnitine. As the carnitine gets broken down by gut bacteria, the waste from this process creates a gas that ultimately creates trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) in the liver. [1]
TMAO can create arterial inflammation, they say. But of course, the doctors involved with this study frame this within the accepted cholesterol concerns. It's the formerly ignored carnitine that's the bad guy now because it creates cholesterol.
The report also put out a frightful message for vegetarians who use L-carnitine supplements. They proclaimed that they were more at risk because the L-carnitine supplements could foster the type of bacteria that would kindle the creation TMAO.
Amazingly, they suggest red meat eaters use antibiotics to eliminate those gut inhabiting bacteria that begin the TMOA creation cycle. Later in this article you'll discover a dissenting MD on these claims.
Unfortunately, this and other similar studies tend to make no distinction between factory farm commercial meat and meat from organically raised livestock. Of course, processed meats with nitrates are even worse and with increased risk factors for cancer and other diseases. [2-3]
For those who refuse to go vegetarian, it's wise to avoid processed meats and factory farm CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) beef or poultry. Those animals are forced into terribly crowded, filthy, and unhealthy confines.
They're inoculated heavily with antibiotics to stem diseases from those conditions and make them fatter. They're fed GMO grain mash foods, instead of grass, with toxic glyphosate (Roundup) pesticides residue traces. All these don't just disappear. They are ultimately consumed by you.
Paleo people should recognize that primitive man did not eat meats from CAFOs.
Try to get grass fed organic beef, pork, or poultry from sources that let the animals roam and graze a bit without getting injected with hormones and antibiotics.
Doctors who disagree with the cholesterol issue and this study
More than one MD has stepped out of the box, even Dr. Oz, to discredit the cholesterol scare that forces many to use statins. Former heart surgeon Dr Dwight Lundell is another. [4]
Statins do reduce cholesterol, and that's the problem. We need cholesterol for cell walls, brain cells, and the myelin sheath that protects our nerves. It also provides the first phase of converting sunlight to vitamin D3 (http://www.naturalnews.com/035033_cholesterol_disinformation_fats.html).
The side effects of statins are from its intended effects. Lowering cholesterol increases the likelihood of earlier dementia. Meanwhile, they do nothing to stave cardiovascular disease, which is the result of arterial inflammation or calcification.
Much of the arterial inflammation comes from processed trans-fatty acids, HFCS, and excess refined carbohydrate processed food diets. An imbalanced ratio of omega-6 to omega-fatty acids is another contributor, it should be 3 to 1 or less.
Calcium deposits in arterial walls also cause inflammation or calcification. It's important to take in ample magnesium and vitamin K2 to transport calcium out of blood vessels and into bone matter.
Dr. Robert Lustig's controversial lecture "Sugar: The Bitter Truth", which has gone viral on YouTube, details how cholesterol counts are useless unless you can detect a particular subtype of LDL that is often from high sugar and HFCS diets, not saturated fats.
Dr. Stephen Sinatra, who co-authored The Great Cholesterol Myth with Jonny Bowden, PhD, goes into detail on exactly what this subtype of LDL is, and how it creates inflammation by burrowing under the inner arterial wall's outer skin, but not by "clogging arteries". [5]
Dr. Sinatra also isn't keen on the study reported in this article. He does recommend eating less red meat and avoiding factory farm meats which are so contaminated with chemicals and antibiotics that it's impossible to isolate carnitine as the cause of TMAO. [6]
Sources for this article include
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22042995
[2] http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/12/health/red-meat-shorten-lifespan
[3] http://no-baloney.com/2012/02/06/of-bacon-and-beets-nitrates-in-food/
[4]http://www.naturalnews.com
[5] http://www.drsinatra.com/cholesterol-definition
[6] http://www.drsinatra.com/l-carnitine-is-not-only-safe-its-essential
Bonus special: Here's a concise summary of the cholesterol scam by Jonny Bowden, PhD http://jonnybowdenblog.com/cholesterol-myths/
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