THIS JUST IN GOOD-FOR-YOU NEWS, CUES AND REVIEWS RED MEAT'S LINK TO HEART DISEASE Doctors understand more about how frequently eating hamburgers and steaks could increase heart attack risk. Healthy people who ate a lot of red meat had much higher levels of a gut chemical associated with increased risk of heart problems and strokes, according to study results backed by the National Institutes of Health. The chemical is called trimethylamine N-oxide, or TMAO, and it results in part from nutrients abundant in red meat, which has high saturated fat levels that contribute to heart disease. Conversely, those who got a large portion of their protein from white meat or vegetables had lower levels of TMAO, the study in the European Heart Journal says. When participants stopped eating red meat, their chemical levels dropped within four weeks. FALL 2019 33