# 6 lbs of undigested red meat **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867 "2001-02-10T02:32:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![alanjunior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@alanjunior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alanjunior)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/1 "2001-02-10T02:32:07Z")
Someone told me today that his doctor said that when we die, we have 7 lbs of undigested red meat in our system. After a cursory search of the internet, I have seen this repeated. I find it unbelievable. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/2 "2001-02-10T02:39:06Z")
As you are new here I believe you. I am sure that someone told you that his doctor had told him this. Also I believe you when you say that you have found a similar claim on the Internet. After all, why would you lie to us? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/3 "2001-02-10T02:58:47Z")
Well, that all depends on whether or not you die of eating 7 pounds of red meat in one sitting. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/4 "2001-02-10T03:02:02Z")
Assuming you ate at that steakhouse that serves the 7 pound Porterhouse “free” if you eat it all, and, assuming you died of a heart attack/stroke shortly after beating the house, you would be correct. If you are a vegetarian, how would this happen? This is just “scarelore” from the net. Ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![likearock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a4c791/32.png) [@likearock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/likearock)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/5 "2001-02-10T03:16:51Z")
This is just a bunch of propagandaist SH\*T (no pun intended) put out by PETA and the rest of the militant vegitarians. Think about it: It takes about 12-24 hours for what we eat to pass through our system. I have never eaten 7 pounds of meat in one day (except for that one time…), and I have never met anyone who regularly participates in such practice. It just doesn’t work. So enjoy that nice juicy steak, and have one for me too. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/6 "2001-02-10T03:21:20Z")
Hours after a meal, no matter how many pounds of meat you’ve managed to consume, the stomach will only contain a small amount of brown fluid. Where would the poundage be lurking? In your small intestine? A lot of yardage, but… In your large intestine? Lots of water metabolizes there…Sigmoid colon? Think of the sensation of 6 pounds of meat!!! And as for the swallowed gum your mamma always warned you about… ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/7 "2001-02-10T04:31:41Z")
Oh please…this was a gag in the movie Beverly Hills Cop. The detectives are on stake-out and the younger detective, in true California new-age bullshit fashion, is reading some goofy book and says (in a voice of serious concern and shock)something about having so many pounds of undigested red meat in your intestines. The older and wiser detective rolls his eyes in disgust and a Hollywood gag in a comedy movie was turned into an urban legend to be forever passed on by the gullible. ---
**Author:** ![Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/8 "2001-02-10T05:40:18Z")
[hijack] How much meat is on a human, assuming I decided to change my hunting grounds? [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Oblong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/c0e974/32.png) [@Oblong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oblong)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/9 "2001-02-10T06:28:06Z")
Billy Rosewood “It says here that by the time the average man is 50, he has 5 pounds of undigested red meat in his bowels” Taggert: (Disgusted) “Why are you telling me this?” Rosewood: “Well you eat a lot of red meat”. ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/10 "2001-02-10T06:41:59Z")
even if it were true… what’s so bad about it? if this is the best PETA can come up with… i’m just gonna keep eating those tasty animals. [http://www.bonsaikitten.com/](http://www.bonsaikitten.com/) hehe ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/11 "2001-02-10T16:00:28Z")
Humans are meat. Uneaten meat. However, if a lion eats a human, does that mean said lion has 150lbs of undigested red meat in it’s stomach? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2001, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/6-lbs-of-undigested-red-meat/53867/12 "2001-02-10T19:36:52Z")
It was my understanding that game animals, as opposed to domesticated livestock which have been selected for desirable carcass traits, usually dress out at about half or less of their total overall body weight. [http://www.deerinfo.com/mf\_hunt/long.htm](http://www.deerinfo.com/mf_hunt/long.htm) > [@](#): > > Just to give you an idea of how much processed meat you’ll glean from, let’s say, an average-sized bull elk (600 pounds), you’ll end up with approximately 250 pounds of meat. So you could figure that a 150 lb. human would dress out at 75 lbs. or less of meat.