Research links heart disease to compound in red meat and energy drinks

 (Organic Slant) A dietary compound abundant in red meat and used as a supplement in energy drinks, energy pills and some weight-loss treatments has been found to promote hardening of the arteries, according to a study released by a research group at the Cleveland Clinic.

The finding may help explain why some people, even when they get their cholesterol under control, still suffer ill effects from a diet high in meats such as beef, venison, lamb, duck and pork.

Researchers say that bacteria in the digestive tract convert the compound, called carnitine, into trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO). Previous research by the same team of Cleveland Clinic investigators found that TMAO promotes atherosclerosis in people.

And there was another twist: The study also found that a diet high in carnitine encourages the growth of the bacteria that metabolize the compound, leading to even higher TMAO production.

“The [type of] bacteria living in our digestive tracts are dictated by our long-term dietary patterns. 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,” study leader Dr. Stanley Hazen, head of preventive cardiology and rehabilitation in Cleveland Clinic’s Heart and Vascular Institute, said in a clinic news release.

Further, a diet high in carnitine promotes the growth of the bacteria that metabolize carnitine, adding to the problem by producing even more of the artery-clogging TMAO, the researchers reported April 7 on the website of the journal Nature Medicine.

The study tested the carnitine and TMAO levels of omnivores, vegans and vegetarians, and examined the clinical data of 2,595 patients undergoing elective cardiac evaluations. They also examined the cardiac effects of a carnitine-enhanced diet in normal mice compared with mice that had suppressed levels of gut microbes, and discovered that TMAO alters cholesterol metabolism at multiple levels, thus explaining how it enhances atherosclerosis.

One of the study’s biggest surprises, Hazen said, was how large an impact vegan and vegetarian diets had on the formation of TMAO from carnitine; people in the study who did not habitually eat red meat did not produce the plaque-forming TMAO even when they were given large doses of carnitine in the form of a steak or a supplement.

Yet even those who eschew red meat may not be immune to the effects of carnitine, Hazen warned, because of the substance’s frequent use as an energy-boosting supplement.

“It’s everywhere,” he said. “The amount of carnitine in many energy drinks is equivalent to a porterhouse steak, or more. Especially if you’re talking about kids who are being targeted with all this advertising, drinking these drinks is like eating steaks every day and they’re getting it in a can and don’t even realize it.”

Carnitine is usually listed on energy drink and supplement labels as L-carnitine, and may be part of a longer list of ingredients as an “energy blend.” In the body, carnitine is used to help transport fatty acids, which are used as fuel, into the fuel production chambers of every cell in the body.

List of energy drinks containing l-carnitine

• Xyience Xenergy

• Ubershot Orginal Energy Shot

• Hydrive Energy Drink

• Lost Energy

• Crunk Energy Drink

• Rockstar Roasted Energy Drink

• Rockstar Energy Cola

• King 888

• Crunk Sugar Free Energy Drink

• Rockstar Energy Shot

• Nitrous Monster Super Dry Energy Drink

• Rockstar Zero Carb Energy Drink

• Monster Low Carb Energy Drink

• Rockstar Energy Drink Sugar Free

• Monster Hitman Energy Shots

• Monster Import Energy Drink

• Monster Assault Energy Drink

• Monster Khaos Energy Drink

• Monster Original Energy Drink

• Starbucks Double Energy + Coffee

• Rockstar Punched Energy Drink

• Rockstar Original

• Rockstar Juiced Mango Orange Passion Fruit

• Java Monster Energy Drink

• Fortify Energy Plus

• NOS High Performance Sugar Free Energy Drink

• Monster M-80 Energy Drink

• Monster Heavy Metal Energy Drink

• Diesel Energy

• Reed’s Natural Energy Elixir

• Rumba Energy Juice

• Blue Energy

• Whoop Ass Energy Drink

• Radioactve

• Potencia Bedida De Energia

• Frigid Dog Energy Sensation Drink

While it’s long been touted as an energy-booster, there is no consistent evidence that carnitine improves exercise ability, function, or energy levels.

The new study also showed that blood levels of carnitine are able to predict cardiac risk. “Even after adjusting for all the traditional cardiac risk factors, blood level of carnitine predicts your future risk of heart attack and stroke death,” Hazen said. The findings came from a large group of patients tested while undergoing cardiac evaluation.

The new study “brings awareness that many ‘supplements’ like energy drinks can have the same [vessel-damaging] compounds as red meat,” she said. “Energy drinks may not be harmless and can have unseen side effects that consumers should recognize.”