Dumbest question ever- about meat.?

Question

I believe that humans are made of muscle and fat. So when we eat meat of an animal, are we eating muscle, or is it something else? Please explain.

Answer 1

This may sound a little gruesome, but bear with me.

Meat is mostly the muscle tissue of an animal. Most animal muscle is roughly 75% water, 20% protein, and 5% fat, carbohydrates, and assorted proteins. Muscles are made of bundles of cells called fibers.

Each cell is crammed with filaments made of two proteins: actin and myosin.

In a live animal, these protein filaments make muscles contract and relax. Both actions require enormous amounts of energy, which they get from the energy-carrying molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate). The most efficient generation of ATP requires oxygen, which muscles get from circulating blood.

After an animal is slaughtered, blood circulation stops, and muscles exhaust their oxygen supply. Muscle can no longer use oxygen to generate ATP and turn to anaerobic glycolysis, a process that breaks down sugar without oxygen, to generate ATP from glycogen, a sugar stored in muscle.

The breakdown of glycogen produces enough energy to contract the muscles, and also produces lactic acid. With no blood flow to carry the lactic acid away, the acid builds up in the muscle tissue. If the acid content is too high, the meat loses its water-binding ability and becomes pale and watery. If the acid is too low, the meat will be tough and dry.

Lactic acid buildup also releases calcium, which causes muscle contraction. As glycogen supplies are depleted, ATP regeneration stops, and the actin and myosin remain locked in a permanent contraction called rigor mortis. Freezing the carcass too soon after death keeps the proteins all bunched together, resulting in very tough meat. Aging allows enzymes in the muscle cells to break down the overlapping proteins, which makes the meat tender.

Individual protein molecules in raw meat are wound-up in coils, which are formed and held together by bonds. When meat is heated, the bonds break and the protein molecule unwinds. Heat also shrinks the muscle fibers both in diameter and in length as water is squeezed out and the protein molecules recombine, or coagulate. Because the natural structure of the protein changes, this process of breaking, unwinding, and coagulating is called denaturing.

Answer 2

Congratulations! You're right! The favorite part of animal flesh is the muscle, with some fat for extra flavor. Some people are fond of liver and kidneys, which are filtering glands. Stomachs have some muscle, and hearts are almost all muscle. Brains are not muscle but I hear they may be high in fat. Let someone else taste-test those. Pork rnds are nothing but fatty tissue and skin.

Answer 3

Yes, we are eating the flesh ( meat ) 0f an animal. And also sometimes the fat ( bacon has a lot of fat )
There is also a dish called " Sweetbread ". it's the brains of a calf.
Sorry, I don't mean to sound so brutal. But, it's all part of the food chain.
That explains why a lot of people are vegetarians doesn't it ?
I'm not. Meat contain a lot of protein and other GOOD things for our bodies that you can't get from eating all fruits and veggies.

Answer 4

Generally it's muscle. But sometimes there's fat. For instance, prime rib is a very fatty piece of meat. Most people cut the fat and eat the muscle part.

Answer 5

Sweetheart,it depends on what kind of meat you're eating I guess. You're getting a little of everything, unless of course you believe that a butcher can cut out ALL the fat or ALL the muscle from a slab of meat, which they don't. I used to work in a meat department and I promise you you're eating a little of both.

Answer 6

both really. they make cows and animals fatter now so that there is more fat in the meat because it tastes better. If you look at a raw steak, the red part is the muscle and the white that runs through it like marble is the fat. on chicken and pork theres usually some fat (Grissel) on the side of the slice. Ground meat, its the white stuff.

Answer 7

Animal muscles is the meat we eat.

Answer 8

Dear,
As you said the humans are made up of bones and meat. Yes most of the time people eat the muscles. The muscles also contains nerves, arteries, veins, harmones, their diseases.
In living entities the food and oxygen is distributed to the the organs via arteries. And the waste (means their ****) is removed from body via veins. When the living organism is killed every system stop working. The excretory waste(****) still remains in the vein. So when someone eat meat it has some part of excretory waste

Answer 9

Muscle and some of the fat.

Answer 10

We eat muscle and fat. And if you're eating chicken and then you're eating skin too (unless you pull it off).

You'll occasionally eat gristle which is either cartilage from from a knee or something...or it could be a tendon/ligament.

Oh and don't forget the veins. You can see those in chicken legs.

Umm then there's bone marrow, as often seen on a Rib-eye steak. (That's part of the spine)