A new study says that eating a diet of red meat regularly makes the body more susceptible to a virulent form of intestinal bug that can cause bloody diarrhoea and even death.

Researchers in the United States and Australia said persistently eating red meat appears to prime the body for exposure to this potent form of Escherichia coli (E. coli).

The meat naturally contains sugar molecules called Neu5Gc that accumulate in cells lining the intestines and blood vessels.

These molecules also act as a sort of magnet for the toxins exuded by the E. coli strain, thus making it easier for the poisons to enter the blood stream, they said.

"Prior meat eating would set one up for the toxin to bind when it shows up," explained Ajit Varki, a researcher at the University of California at San Diego, one of the study's co-authors.

The Neu5Gc molecule is virtually absent in other foods such as fish, poultry and vegetables and fruits, Varki told AFP in an email exchange.

The investigation, published in the London-based journal Nature, is led by Travis Beddoe of Monash University in Melbourne.

In experiments, the team first tested the affinity of the E. coli bacteria for Neu5Gc using cultured human cells in a lab dish.

"The human samples showed the presence of the Neu5Gc toxin binding sites in the gut and the kidney, the two target organs for the disease," said Varki.