Methionine, Homocysteine, Glycine & Glutathione. On Carnivore.
Muscle meat is high in methionine and low in glycine. Eat only muscle and the balance tips. The fix is the rest of the animal.
What Happens
- Muscle meat → methionine. The body uses it, and what's left becomes homocysteine.
- Homocysteine → methionine. It is recycled back, using folate and B12, or betaine, which the body makes from choline.
- Homocysteine → cysteine. This route uses B6.
- Cysteine + glutamate + glycine → glutathione, the body's main antioxidant.
- Glycine also helps the body get rid of excess methionine.
Why Homocysteine Matters
- It drives oxidative stress — it generates free radicals and uses up glutathione.
- It lowers nitric oxide by damaging the inner lining of blood vessels.
- It weakens collagen by interfering with how the fibres bind together, in bone and connective tissue.
How to Counteract It
- Glycine — eat the rest of the animal: skin, bone broth, gelatin and slow-cooked connective tissue cuts.
- Folate — the main gap on carnivore. Liver and egg yolk are the only real animal sources.
- B12 and B6 — plentiful in red meat. Liver adds more.
- Choline — egg yolks and liver. The body turns it into betaine.
- Liver once a week covers folate, B12, B6 and choline together.
PS. Muscle is only part of the animal. Eat the rest.