Pathobiological Relationship of Excessive Dietary Intake of Choline/L-Carnitine: A TMAO Precursor-Associated Aggravation in Heart Failure in Sarcopenic Patients

Nutrients. 2021 Sep 29;13(10):3453. doi: 10.3390/nu13103453.

Abstract

The microecological environment of the gastrointestinal tract is altered if there is an imbalance between the gut microbiota phylases, resulting in a variety of diseases. Moreover, progressive age not only slows down physical activity but also reduces the fat metabolism pathway, which may lead to a reduction in the variety of bacterial strains and bacteroidetes' abundance, promoting firmicutes and proteobacteria growth. As a result, dysbiosis reduces physiological adaptability, boosts inflammatory markers, generates ROS, and induces the destruction of free radical macromolecules, leading to sarcopenia in older patients. Research conducted at various levels indicates that the microbiota of the gut is involved in pathogenesis and can be considered as the causative agent of several cardiovascular diseases. Local and systematic inflammatory reactions are caused in patients with heart failure, as ischemia and edema are caused by splanchnic hypoperfusion and enable both bacterial metabolites and bacteria translocation to enter from an intestinal barrier, which is already weakened, to the blood circulation. Multiple diseases, such as HF, include healthy microbe-derived metabolites. These key findings demonstrate that the gut microbiota modulates the host's metabolism, either specifically or indirectly, by generating multiple metabolites. Currently, the real procedures that are an analogy to the symptoms in cardiac pathologies, such as cardiac mass dysfunctions and modifications, are investigated at a minimum level in older patients. Thus, the purpose of this review is to summarize the existing knowledge about a particular diet, including trimethylamine, which usually seems to be effective for the improvement of cardiac and skeletal muscle, such as choline and L-carnitine, which may aggravate the HF process in sarcopenic patients.

Keywords: L-carnitine; choline; heart failure; inflammatory mediators; sarcopenia; trimethylamine-N-oxide.

Publication types

  • Meta-Analysis
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Biodiversity
  • Biomarkers
  • Carnitine / administration & dosage
  • Carnitine / adverse effects*
  • Choline / administration & dosage
  • Choline / adverse effects*
  • Dietary Supplements* / adverse effects
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Dysbiosis
  • Gastrointestinal Microbiome
  • Heart Failure / epidemiology*
  • Heart Failure / etiology*
  • Heart Failure / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Methylamines / administration & dosage
  • Methylamines / adverse effects
  • Sarcopenia / complications*
  • Sarcopenia / diagnosis
  • Sarcopenia / epidemiology*
  • Sarcopenia / etiology

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Methylamines
  • trimethyloxamine
  • Choline
  • Carnitine