# "Your body does not really digest meat. It only uses the fat & the meat rots in your system" T or F? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 5, 2013, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122 "2013-01-05T01:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/21 "2013-01-05T02:25:10Z")
> [@astro](#): > > It was going along pretty reasonably … The very first sentence about why feces floats (for some people) is false. It’s due to methane, not fiber or undigested fat. I doubt that any of the rest of it is ay more accurate. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/22 "2013-01-05T02:41:41Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Yup. > > Nope. As above, it is about a ceiling for protein intake. The essence is that the liver can only process so much protein without enough fat or carbs to help it out. That ceiling is felt to be about 35% of daily energy intake. Without that liver processing ammonia builds up from the protein and that can kill you… Maybe, that’s one hypothesis. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit\_starvation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation) But yes, it is true that the old time Eskimo diet used to contain _a lot_ of fat. Doubtless it was the primary source of calories. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/23 "2013-01-05T02:49:58Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > you _really_ have to ask? this is the same trash that led people to believe we all have 5-10-20 pounds of “undigested meat” in our intestines. just a bunch of bossy vegans who have to lie to try to scare people into thinking like them. I thought the folks who spouted that bit about all that undigested meat in the intestines were the loons who touted intestinal cleansing (the kind where they shoot water up your tush). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/24 "2013-01-05T03:15:24Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > The essence of the “Eskimo” diet is not just meat, but raw meat, and fat, and brains, and guts, and the _whole animal_. In Farley Mowat’s [_Never Cry Wolf_](http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-never-cry-wolf/chapanal011.html) he found that for a large carnivore to survive on an animal diet, it’s necessary to eat the whole animal: > [@](#): > > Because the wolves’ mouse diet will be seen as implausible to most scientists, Mowat decides that the only way to earn credibility is to prove that a large carnivore can exist solely on mice. Since he has no other subject, Mowat must be said large carnivore. He develops different recipes to fight against the monotony of a single meat diet. His favorite recipe is for creamed mouse. There is no drop in Mowat’s strength, but he does begin to crave fats. This is soon remedied, however, after Farley realizes that the wolves, unlike himself, have been eating the whole mouse. He also eats the whole mouse and finds the craving for fats soon subsides. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/25 "2013-01-05T03:19:08Z")
Well, if you want to get extremely technical, your body’s digestive system cannot directly utilize anything that that you eat. The food you consume feeds the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract and it is these bacteria and the byproducts they produce while digesting your food that feeds you. If the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract is eliminated by antibiotics you may actually need a shit transplant to rejuvenate your system. > **[Poop Transplant Saves Woman's Life](https://jezebel.com/poop-transplant-saves-womans-life-5946543)** > > A woman, whose life was threatened by a dangerous bacterial infection in her colon, was cured through a "fecal transplant." It is exactly as it sounds: doctors take poop from one person and then put it up another person's butt. It is now thought that your appendix, rather than being a useless remnant of evolution serves the purpose of being a bacterial reservoir. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/26 "2013-01-05T03:26:15Z")
Before someone calls for a cite on the appendix thing, here: [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/research/17appe.html?\_r=0](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/health/research/17appe.html?_r=0) ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/27 "2013-01-05T05:29:57Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Well, if you want to get extremely technical, your body’s digestive system cannot directly utilize anything that that you eat. > > The food you consume feeds the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract and it is these bacteria and the byproducts they produce while digesting your food that feeds you. Bullshit. You cites do not support this, nor does anything else. We are not termites or cows. Some carbohydrates are indigestible by us, and some of the fermentation products of our gut bacteria are absorbed by the gut. Everything else we do ourselves. > [@](#): > > If the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract is eliminated by antibiotics you may actually need a shit transplant to rejuvenate your system. > > [http://jezebel.com/5946543/poop-transplant-saves-womans-life](http://jezebel.com/5946543/poop-transplant-saves-womans-life) > > It is now thought that your appendix, rather than being a useless remnant of evolution serves the purpose of being a bacterial reservoir. This has nothing to do with what you said. Yes, flourishing gut bacteria will help prevent C. dif. infection, but they do not digest your food for you. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/28 "2013-01-05T06:48:27Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Well, if you want to get extremely technical, your body’s digestive system cannot directly utilize anything that that you eat. As **Nametag** has pointed out, this is nonsense. Most digestion is carried out by our own enzymes; bacterial digestion makes a contribution, but it’s not the major factor. ---
**Author:** ![Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hero_From_Sector_7G)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/29 "2013-01-05T06:59:58Z")
Does anyone pay attention during their high school biology class? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/30 "2013-01-05T07:37:53Z")
> [@Hero\_From\_Sector\_7G](#): > > Does anyone pay attention during their high school biology class? From my experience teaching high school: Some, but not all, and even fewer remember anything a week after the test. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/31 "2013-01-05T09:22:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > In Farley Mowat’s [_Never Cry Wolf_](http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-never-cry-wolf/chapanal011.html) he found that for a large carnivore to survive on an animal diet, it’s necessary to eat the whole animal: It’s one of my favorite books of all time, but the author admits some portion of it is fictional, it’s more “based upon a true story”. However, I think that’s one of the true parts, mind you, my Dad more or less said they same thing, and he lived with the Alaskan Eskimo for many years. (Mind you, he didn’t eat mouse, but his Eskimo taught him to eat all of a animal, including the stomach contents in many cases. Except certain bear liver.) I want to remind dudes that “rabbit starvation” actually has few or no confirmed instances of actual death or starvation. The person does develop very strong cravings, which eating more lean rabbit meat can not quench. But the records show few instances of anyone actually dying of it. This is why we are not completely sure of what causes it. EFA deficiency is one theory, and DSeid’s cite about too much protein for the liver to metabolize is another. Perhaps it is some of both. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/32 "2013-01-05T09:49:06Z")
> [@Dallas\_Jones](#): > > Well, if you want to get extremely technical, your body’s digestive system cannot directly utilize anything that that you eat. > > The food you consume feeds the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract and it is these bacteria and the byproducts they produce while digesting your food that feeds you. Did you read the thread before posting this? In particular, post #10 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/33 "2013-01-05T15:18:01Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **Twoflower** : > > The very first sentence about why feces floats (for some people) is false. It’s due to methane, not fiber or undigested fat. I doubt that any of the rest of it is ay more accurate. Well, it’s due to fart gases, and methane is one component of fart gases, but it’s far from the only or even dominant component. There’s also carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and ordinary air. ---
**Author:** ![SmartAlecCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/67e7ee/32.png) [@SmartAlecCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAlecCat)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/34 "2013-01-05T15:35:53Z")
The biggest difference between “digest” and “rot” is whether or not the microbes that do it are inside your gut or outside your gut. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/35 "2013-01-05T16:10:50Z")
> [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > The biggest difference between “digest” and “rot” is whether or not the microbes that do it are inside your gut or outside your gut. No it isn’t, as has already been pointed out several times in this fairly short thread, which is only being dragged out because people keep repeating this nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/36 "2013-01-05T16:13:02Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Rabbit starvation is a real phenomenon, but it doesn’t just cause weight loss. It really should be called rabbit _malnutrition_ Wouldn’t it more or less the same thing as an Atkins diet? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/37 "2013-01-05T16:19:14Z")
> [@astro](#): > > [I was reading about all things poop](http://ichoosethin.com/thinblog/poop-and-you-were-afraid-to-ask/) This person is far, far too fascinated about taking a crap. That should be a clue that you are entering the Woo Zone. Incidentally, the claim that a thin/narrow BM is perfectly fine ignores one ominous possibility - that a partial intestinal blockage could be responsible (for instance, from a tumor narrowing part of the colon). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/38 "2013-01-05T16:25:50Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Wouldn’t it more or less the same thing as an Atkins diet? Similar, but Atkins does include fats. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/39 "2013-01-05T16:27:24Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Wouldn’t it more or less the same thing as an Atkins diet? no, because 1) Atkins isn’t and never was about complete elimination of carbohydrate intake, and 2) generally contains enough fat intake for energy needs. > [@SmartAlecCat](#): > > The biggest difference between “digest” and “rot” is whether or not the microbes that do it are inside your gut or outside your gut. and that whole “putrefaction” thing which happens during decay but not digestion. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2013, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122/40 "2013-01-05T19:40:57Z")
Atkins is usually 20 to 30% protein. Well under the 35 to 40% that the liver seems able to handle. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-body-does-not-really-digest-meat-it-only-uses-the-fat-the-meat-rots-in-your-system-t-or-f/646122.md?page=3)