Allergen Present in Red Meat Causing Heart Disease

Doctors advise elderly people to avoid red meat as it is difficult to digest. Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have come up with one more reasons to avoid red meat. According to them, red meat contains an allergen that might be the cause of several cardiac disorders. The people who are allergic to red meat do not show any visible symptoms. However, the researchers believe that red meat can have adverse effects in about 1% of the population in some regions. Generally, the allergen in the red meat initiates the production of blood antibodies. According to these researchers, the allergen is galactose-α-1, 3-galactose, or alpha-Gal, a type of complex sugar. Although the reaction begins with the production of antibodies, it eventually leads to arterial plaques and blockages. These would definitely lead to cardiac disorders if allowed to accumulate for a long time. The researchers are still not sure about the study results. Therefore, they plan to continue their experiments on several animal models before launching clinical trials for validating the same.

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