Red Meat And Heart Disease, Again...

As I posted a couple of days ago (Red Meat Kills, AHHHH!), Chris Kresser said he was going to post on that study, so I wasn't going to bother to.

Sure enough he did, but we got a hat trick:

• Chris Kresser: Red Meat and TMAO: Cause for Concern, or Another Red Herring?
• Mark Sisson: Does Red Meat Clog Your Arteries After All?
• Chris Masterjohn: Does Carnitine From Red Meat Contribute to Heart Disease Through Intestinal Bacterial Metabolism to TMAO?

Oh no, look at the squid!

Short answer, it’s extremely unlikely.  It turns out that type of meat that is most likely to raise TMAO levels is fish, not red meat.  You know, fish, the food that contributes to lower the risk of heart disease?

The study’s got all sorts of problems, but all you need to know about it is at the three links above.

Really, look.  Leftover squid!

The bad news, if there’s any, is that I had squid for lunch yesterday...

P.S.  Paul Jaminet also posts about this today.  He buries the lede in a comment: “Yes, if TMAO were really a major problem then seafood would be really bad. It isn’t.”

He suggests you adhere to his PHD guidelines.  Good advice.  He does suggest, “Don’t eat excessive amounts of meat. As we noted in the book, excess protein is available to gut bacteria for fermentation and that produces a number of toxic byproducts.”  I’m fine with eating lots of meat. 

The dangers of meat-eating are more hypothetical than proven, as this latest study demonstrates.