Dhar I, et al. - A diet lacking in methionine (Met), an essential amino acid involved in methylation reactions and lipid metabolism, may cause hepatic lipid accumulation, which is considered an independent risk factor for atherosclerosis. Researchers examined the links between plasma Met and incident acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with stable angina pectoris, among whom the majority received lipid-lowering therapy with statins. In patients who had high circulating levels of atherogenic lipids and also in subgroups with presumably lower cardiovascular risk ie, patients younger than 62 years and patients without diabetes or hypertension, low plasma Met was shown to be related to increased risk of AMI.