How to reduce our TMAO levels? Major dietary sources of choline and carnitine are animal products (meat, eggs, dairy). So an effective intervention for reducing TMAO levels is reduction or elimination of these animal products from our diet.
Articles by Dr Greger:
Videos by Dr Greger:
(9 mins) Transcript. Fascinating video! Worth watching for a big picture understanding of {choline, carnitine} → gut bacteria → TMAO → {arterial health, cancer}.
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "What we eat determines what kind of bacteria we foster the growth of in our gut, which can increase or decrease our risk of some of our leading killer diseases."
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "The reason egg consumption is associated with elevated cancer risk may be the TMAO, considered the 'smoking gun' of microbiome-disease interactions."
(7 mins) Transcript.
Companion article: How to Reduce Your TMAO Levels (2021).
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "If the microbiome of those eating plant-based diets protects against the toxic effects of TMAO, what about swapping gut flora?"
(4 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Choline may be the reason egg consumption is associated with prostate cancer progression and death."
(5 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "Too much choline — a compound concentrated in eggs and other animal products — can make bodily secretions smell like rotting fish, and may increase the risk of heart disease, due to conversion in the gut to trimethylamine."
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "How the egg industry funded a study designed to cover up the toxic trimethylamine oxide reaction to egg consumption."
(6 mins) Transcript. Dr Greger's summary: "One way a diet rich in animal-sourced foods like meat, eggs, and cheese may contribute to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, and death is through the production of toxin called TMAO."