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Yet another study, by the same US research team, links raised risk of heart attack and stroke to the action of gut bacteria on certain compounds contained in digested food. This time the link is to a compound found in eggs: lecithin. Earlier this month, researchers reported in Nature Medicine how they found L-carnitine, a compound found in red meat and added to energy drinks, can increase heart risk because gut bacteria digest it to produce trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO), a metabolite already suspected of helping to clog up arteries.

Our guts are awash in bacteria, and now a new study fingers them as culprits in heart disease. A complicated dance between the microbes and a component of red meat could help explain how the food might cause atherosclerosis. The work also has implications for certain energy drinks and energy supplements, which contain the same nutrient that these bacteria like chasing after. Red meat is considered bad news when it comes to heart health, although studies aren't consistent about how much can hurt and whether it always does. Furthermore, it's not clear which components of meat are doing harm. Various...

Research Presented at American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session Reports D-Ribose Improves Ventilatory Efficiency in Congestive Heart Failure Patients MINNEAPOLIS, Mar. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- MINNEAPOLIS, March 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventilatory efficiency is recognized as an important predictor of survival and disease progression among patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Thus, improving ventilatory efficiency in this population is of prime importance. A research report presented at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session 2005 in Orlando, Florida, suggests that D-Ribose can play a significant role in this key pursuit.It is well accepted that failing hearts are energy starved...

Half of dialysis patients fail to receive life-saving vitamin An article published online in advance of the April issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (www.jasn.org) found that administering injectable vitamin D to chronic kidney failure patients who are undergoing dialysis significantly improves survival. The annual mortality rate of dialysis patients is currently 20 percent in the United States, due mainly to cardiovascular disease.Because individuals with failing kidneys cannot effectively utilize vitamin D provided by the diet, injections have been recommended, but only for those with hyperparathyroidism meaning that about half of those receiving dialysis are lacking...