Why do we get ‘the meat sweats’?
Overindulging at Christmas can have a nasty side-affect…
Asked by: Rhiannon Welsby, Colchester
There isn’t much hard research specifically into whether meat makes you sweat, but one possibility is the ‘thermic effect’ of protein. We digest protein less efficiently, and for every 100 calories of meat we eat, 20 to 35 calories are wasted as heat, compared with 5 to 15 calories for fat or carbohydrate. The sweating may be necessary to flush away that waste heat.
Subscribe to BBC Focus magazine for fascinating new Q&As every month and follow @sciencefocusQA on Twitter for your daily dose of fun science facts.
Authors
Luis trained as a zoologist, but now works as a science and technology educator. In his spare time he builds 3D-printed robots, in the hope that he will be spared when the revolution inevitably comes.
