The Digestive Dance: Gut Microbes and the Risks of Red Meat

Published on August 1, 2022

Imagine your gut as a bustling city, filled with helpful little microbes that go to work after you indulge in a juicy steak. A recent study discovered that these clever microbes produce chemicals during the process of digesting red meat, like beef or pork, which can increase your risk of heart disease. It’s like the city’s factories are churning out harmful substances that contribute to cardiovascular problems. And while high blood sugar and inflammation also play a role, it’s mainly the microbial response to red meat digestion that sets the stage for trouble. Interestingly, blood pressure and cholesterol levels don’t seem to be directly affected by red meat consumption. But fear not! Consuming fish, poultry, and eggs doesn’t come with the same increased cardiovascular risk. So maybe it’s time to let those hardworking microbes take a break from processing red meat and give them some lighter protein options to handle. Want to learn more about this extraordinary gut dance? Dive into the fascinating research behind it!

A new study found that chemicals produced in the digestive tract by gut microbes after eating red meat (such as beef, pork, bison, venison) explained a significant portion of the higher risk of cardiovascular disease associated with higher red meat consumption. High blood sugar and inflammation may also contribute to higher cardiovascular risk associated with red meat consumption, however, blood pressure and cholesterol were not associated with the higher CVD risk associated with red meat consumption. General consumption of fish, poultry and eggs was not associated with increased cardiovascular risk.

Read Full Article (External Site)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You may use these HTML tags and attributes:

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>