- checking login information
Vegan Eats Steak, Shows Why Going Meatless is Good For You
Red meat has not exactly been on the A-list of healthy foods for a long time as it’s been linked to an increased risk for cancer and heart disease. New research in the journal Nature Medicine suggests that eating even lean steak that is low in fat and cholesterol can be bad for your heart. The reason is that a chemical found in red meat, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), can actually “encourage” the growth of fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries.
However, a vegan who was a participant in the study did not show the same spike in levels of TMAO — which changes the very metabolism of cholesterol and slows the removal of it from the arteries’ walls — after eating a 200-gram sirloin steak.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, head of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, and his colleagues made this discovery while conducting a series of experiments to find out why red meat consumptions has been linked to heart disease. They first gave 77 participants (26 of whom were vegans or vegetarians) the nutrient carnitine, which is found in meat and dairy products.
Taking carnitine, which is also taken as a supplement to improve athletic performance and for weight loss and which is found in energy drinks, increased the volunteers’ levels of TMAO. But the vegans and vegetarians produced far less TMAO after taking carnitine supplements. Analysis showed that they indeed had “very different types of bacteria in their guts” than did those who ate meat.
From this, Dr. Hazen concluded that eating meat regularly promotes the growth of intestinal bacteria that then turns the carnitine in red meat into TMAO. The researchers confirmed their findings by checking carnitine levels in people who were having voluntary heart check-ups. Carnitine on its own was not linked to heart disease but, when combined with TMAO, it turned people into “prime targets for heart disease.”
“Bacterial Alchemy” At Work in Our Intestines
It’s not carnitine alone that increases your risk for heart disease, but what Nature.com refers to as “bacterial alchemy.” If you’re regularly eating meat, you are setting in motion a process in which intestinal bacteria feed on the carnitine from a steak, burger, etc. and produce TMAO. Over time, your risk for heart disease rises.
Carnitine is also found in chicken, fish and dairy products, but in far smaller amounts than in red meat. It had not previously been connected to an increased risk of heart disesase, Gina Kolata notes in the New York Times.
As a result of the study, Dr. Hazen — once a routine consumer of red meat — has himself lowered his consumption of it, to once every two weeks. The study also indirectly offers more evidence of why foregoing meat has its pluses. The vegan who ate the sirloin steak in the study was indeed found to have “virtually no TMAO” in his or her blood — a suggestion of why not eating meat can do your heart good (and then some).
Related Care2 Coverage
If You Want to Eat Meat, How About Guinea Pig?
Read more: carnitine, diet, heart disease, meat, meat eating, nutrition, red meat, vegan, vegetarian
Photo from Thinkstock
have you shared this story yet?
some of the best people we know are doing it
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
Let's see, these are the people who unleashed Sarah Palin, on the rest of us. So they don't get any…
This group of thumping nut-jobs would find comfort in the treatment of women by the Taliban. They prove…
This is a bad advertisement for the Irish and for Mayor Walsh.
meet our writers
620 comments
+ add your ownMichael T says: “Spending the amount of time necessary to research the number of people who gave you green stars who list their food preferences speaks of an ego that sounds lacking and empty and in need of propping up”.
Rudeness noted.
I have personally met individuals and families who became vegan and vegetarian through reading CARE2 threads.
By researching and discovering that a number of meat-eaters are grateful for the vegan-related information I offer, I am assured that it is worthwhile continuing to provide information to them.
With Easter just around the corner, they may like to check out the vegan hot cross bun recipe at this link:
http://www.food.com/recipe/hot-cross-buns-gluten-dairy-and-egg-free-122238
Well, well, self-congratulatory behavior. You know, you sound an awful lot like Karl Rove on the night of the last election LandP. LOL.
Let me also add that I suspect that not all vegans claim this information on their profiles which means that some of those meat eaters you claim you received stars from may in fact be vegans and perhaps as rabid about it as you appear to be. Spending the amount of time necessary to research the number of people who gave you green stars who list their food preferences speaks of an ego that sounds lacking and empty and in need of propping up.
L&P, Regurgitating the same original points (which have already been rebutted) without addressing rebuttals, does not prove your position at all. ALL of your points have already been addressed and you know it.
Briefly: Just refusing to eat certain animals does nothing to prevent their suffering, UNLESS you take active steps to protect and care for them. This includes food, shelter, and most importantly, spay/neuter. Obviously you don’t do this. Therefore, not only have you not saved 200+ food animals in your life, but you have personally destroyed several thousands/millions of DIFFERENT animals by contributing to the vegan food industry.
If your logic is true, all the animals who are not eaten would have wonderful lives now. They don’t. Most of them are constantly being starved/neglected/abused, just like food animals. And a few food animals are treated quite well. What matters is NOT whether animals are eaten or not, but how responsible/kind their caregivers are.
Majority of the human population is greedy and selfish. Forcing them to go vegan would not change this. Even if there are laws prohibiting the EATING of animals, they will continue to neglect/abuse them. By focusing on the eating of animals while completely ignoring neglect/abuse and cruelty, you are doing a huge disservice to animals just to line your own pockets.
btw...another misconception that screams to be recognized is that one does not HAVE to sacrifice their health by eating a diet that excludes entire food groups in order to live a vegan lifestyle.
Many, of not most, conscious humans live as vegan a lifestyle as those who choose to eat overly processed cardboard foodstuffs that claim to be vegan while supplementing with artificial chemical nutrients which are poorly assimilated by their bodies.
Then when they get sick, they also have to take medications that were tested on animals.....so much for the vegan lifestyle they like to pretend is so altruistic.
In reality we all support the deaths just to stay alive and have all the necessities for daily living. No one is guilt-free.
It's quite delusional to think that if people stop eating meat, the animals will no longer be bred or killed.
There are too many household products and other necessities for which human life (as we now know it) relies upon the by-products of the meat industry.
Many people do not eat 100-200 animals in their lifetime....except perhaps small animals like fish and chicken. My husband and I combined would never consume that many animals.
According to hardcore vegans, omnivores die off early as a result of eating meat.....so most people would never live long enough to eat so many animals if that were true.
It's amusing how they can twist their perception and change their opinion and 'statistics' to suit their argument against a nutritionally balanced healthy diet.
Suba G says: "...if you provide VALID reasons if and how veganism reduces cruelty to animals, you might actually get some real converts".
When someone stops eating animals, I believe it is obvious to the average person how this prevents the suffering and death of those animals.
Simply put, if one typical meat-eating American stops eating animals, the 100-200 creatures he would have eaten in his lifetime are not needed for his consumption and therefore are not needed or produced by the meat industry. (Supply and demand).
When millions of people stop killing and eating animals, significantly less animal bodies are demanded of the meat industry and therefore are not bred for sale. (Supply and demand).
When everyone stops eating animals, none of the multiple trillions of animal bodies will be needed for human consumption and therefore will not be born to be killed. (No demand, no supply).
One must first acknowledge that killing animals is lethal abuse of them. Then he/she is more likely to embrace a vegetarian diet – which may or may not be followed by a vegan diet - which may or may not be followed by a vegan lifestyle.
See this link for an understanding of the vegan lifestyle: http://www.vegsource.com/jo/vegan.htm
L&P, For once if you provide VALID reasons if and how veganism reduces cruelty to animals, you might actually get some real converts.
The more you fail to address logical arguments, the more fake your ideology appears to anyone with common sense.
L&P,
Just caught you in another huge contradiction (or lie?) …
“Of the 271 stars I have received from this thread so far”
I glanced at your profile, which says you have been a member since June 2009, and your total number of stars is 271. Which means 271 stars from June 2009 to today.
So, if all your 271 stars are only from this thread, have you not been on any other threads, or not got stars for anything else (i.e. none before 2013)?
It’s logical to assume that the same readers would read other articles on similar topics. Why wouldn’t they give stars for your posts on those threads?
Michael T says: “If I had entertained thoughts or notions about becoming a Vegan and had come here to learn from such a discussion, I would be turned off by what you write, how you write etc”.
Thank you for the feedback Michael. I don’t expect my writing style to touch all who read it. Some people are influenced by other mediums and some by multiple factors that resonate for them personally. Some will not willingly stop killing and eating animals in their lifetimes. Unjust social belief systems that have been long-held and long justified disintegrate slowly - so people of this generation (who choose to do so) will most likely be able to continue their habit to their deathbed.
Of the 271 stars I have received from this thread so far, only six have been gifted by people who have contributed to this discussion. And only 32 have been gifted by members who identify themselves as vegans or vegetarians. That leaves a large majority of meat eaters who are quietly reading my comments and links and liking the content.
Touching just one person is worthwhile to me. I am grateful that CARE2 provides an effective vehicle to touch many more :-)
L and P stated:
"This does not necessarily mean Dale O or the handful of others on Care2 who campaign to keep the status quo will stop killing and eating animals."
Intriguing, given the number of the entire membership of Care2, has anyone ever done extensive polling to see how many are omnivores, vegetarians and vegans? I think that you will find that omnivores are far more than a mere 'handful' on Care2.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment