What should steak be broken down into

Once in the stomach, metabolism of protein begins. The main stomach enzyme is pepsinogen, which is quickly converted into pepsin by the acidic stomach juices. Pepsin starts to reduce the protein in steak into smaller building blocks called amino acids and peptide fragments.

Your stomach juices also contain some gastric lipase, which continues to metabolize the saturated fat in the steak. Steak spends much more time in the stomach, a total of about four hours, compared to grains, fruit or vegetables, which usually spend less than an hour or so.

When the partially digested steak enters the small intestine, your gallbladder releases bile to further break down fat, and your pancreas releases proteases to further reduce the amino acid chains. Further on down the small intestine, the amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol, vitamins and minerals from the steak are absorbed.

Many of the nutrients travel to your liver first and then out to the rest of your body via the bloodstream. The material left over, which is mainly fiber and indigestible gristle, passes into the colon, losses more fluid and then passes out of the body as feces. The total time it takes for a steak to be digested and passed is between 24 and 72 hours, depending mainly on your metabolic rate and intestinal motility.

Frequent consumption of steak and other forms of red meat can be harmful to your health. The high saturated-fat content is linked to higher risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease, whereas the charred material on the outside of steak contains compounds that are linked to various gastrointestinal cancers.

In addition, beef sometimes contains hormonal and antibiotic residues. Sirah Dubois is currently a PhD student in food science after having completed her master's degree in nutrition at the University of Alberta. Here, additional enzymes--trypsin and chymotrypsin—act on the amino acid strands to break them into even smaller parts, until only single and double amino acids remain.

Preparing for Delivery The amino acids are then transported through the cells that line the walls of your intestines and into your bloodstream, a process called absorption. They're now ready to be sent to your muscles via your blood vessels. Building the Muscle Once they reach your muscles, amino acids are delivered to the cells by way of capillaries. There, the amino acids help repair damaged fibers. In fact, muscle-protein synthesis can't occur unless amino acids are readily available—all the more reason to eat some protein at every meal.

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