Red Meat Compound Linked To Heart Disease

There may be in new culprit in red meat that is linked with heart disease.

FOX News Radio’s Bill Vitka reports:

It ‘s not just the saturated fat and cholesterol in red meat that raises the risk of heart disease. There is a new suspect according to a study in the journal Nature Medicine, and it may be the most troublesome.

It’s a compound called carnitine. It is abundant in red meat and sold as a dietary supplement, and found in some energy drinks. In humans, carnitine converts into a little-studied chemical that promotes thickening of the arteries.

The study doesn’t mean that red meat is bad, but it may help explain why some people, even when they get their cholesterol under control, still suffer ill effects from a meat diet.

Bill Vitka, FOX News Radio.