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Your Gut Bacteria Linked to Your Risk for Heart Disease

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This is an older article that may not reflect Dr. Mercola’s current view on this topic. Use our search engine to find Dr. Mercola’s latest position on any health topic.

A new mechanism has been discovered that connects phosphatidyl choline (also called lecithin), a common dietary fat, along with intestinal microflora, to an increased risk of heart disease. The study shows that the heart risk of people with a diet high in the lipid depends on how the micro-organisms that live in their digestive tracts metabolize it.

When lecithin and choline were fed to mice, the substances were converted to a heart disease-forming product by the intestinal microbes. In humans, higher blood levels of choline and the heart disease forming microorganism products are strongly associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk.

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