Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Meat-metabolizing bacteria in atherosclerosis

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

L-Carnitine is a common food supplement and naturally occurs in red meat. This nutrient is metabolized into trimethyl metabolites by the gut microbiota and is associated with an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. A recent study provides new insights into this link by exploring how the gut microbiota generates proatherogenic metabolites from L-carnitine and how the microbiota is altered in response to an omnivorous diet (pages 576–585).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: A potential mechanism for how microbial metabolism of L-carnitine contributes to atherosclerosis and CVD.

Katie Vicari

References

  1. Bäckhed, F., Manchester, J.K., Semenkovich, C.F. & Gordon, J.I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104, 979–984 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Qin, J. et al. Nature 490, 55–60 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Turnbaugh, P.J. et al. Nature 457, 480–484 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Tremaroli, V. & Backhed, F. Nature 489, 242–249 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Karlsson, F.H. et al. Nat. Commun. 3, 1245 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wu, G.D. et al. Science 334, 105–108 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, Z. et al. Nature 472, 57–63 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Tang, W.H.W. et al. N. Engl. J. Med. published online, http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1109400 (25 April 2013).

  9. Koeth, R.A. et al. Nat. Med. 19, 576–585 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Hehemann, J.H. et al. Nature 464, 908–912 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Goodman, A.L. et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 108, 6252–6257 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Smith, M.I. et al. Science 339, 548–554 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. and the Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Fredrik Bäckhed is at the Wallenberg Laboratory/Sahlgrenska Center for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research, Gothenburg, Sweden, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden.,

    Fredrik Bäckhed

Authors
  1. Fredrik Bäckhed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fredrik Bäckhed.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

F.B. is cofounder of and a shareholder in MetaboGen AB.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bäckhed, F. Meat-metabolizing bacteria in atherosclerosis. Nat Med 19, 533–534 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3178

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3178

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation