Does Meat Tenderizer Digest Your Innards?

[ANC]

Hey Doctor Steve,

I sometimes use meat tenderizer once in a while in a pinch when I cook. I've heard conflicting statements on whether or not meat tenderizer is bad for you. Some say it's a protein that is denatured when the steak is cooked and is harmless, while others say it breaks up the connective tissue in your digestive system the same as it does to the meat you apply it to. Can you shed some light on this?

Your buddy,

Anthony

[Dr Steve]

Hey Doctor Steve,

I sometimes use meat tenderizer once in a while in a pinch when I cook. I've heard conflicting statements on whether or not meat tenderizer is bad for you. Some say it's a protein that is denatured when the steak is cooked and is harmless, while others say it breaks up the connective tissue in your digestive system the same as it does to the meat you apply it to. Can you shed some light on this?

Your buddy,

Anthony

I love this question. It's weird, and it's medicine, hence the name. :-)

I happen to use a mallet as a meat tenderizer. As an amateur chef, it's the only thing I use if I'm dealing with a tough piece of meat:

http://www.zesco.com/pImages/093/093-D-189.jpg

obviously, one of these would break up the connective tissue in your digestive system :-)

but seriously, folks....



...yecchhh


anyway, the tenderizers you're talking about are generally papain and bromelain, which are enzymes found in papaya and pineapple respectively. They are "digestive enzymes" and break up connective fibers in muscle tissue.

Here's the thing...even if they were not broken down in the stomach (which they very likely are) the digestive system can take it. Your digestive system is designed to withstand its own digestive juices...it laughs at hydrochloric acid, pancreatic enzymes, salivary enzymes, and all kinds of insults. You can eat (as far as I could find) as much of this stuff as you want with impunity; think about it, when you eat papaya and pineapple, what's to keep your digestive system from dissolving then, too? The digestive system cannot be digested, unless you eat LYE (don't try this at home) or other caustic crap that it wasn't designed to deal with.

The exception to this is of course the stomach ulcer, where acid is able to get through the slime-defense of the stomach and eat away at the stomach wall. That's a whole 'nother subject, though. As far as I can tell there is no association between meat tenderizers and stomach ulcers.

But buy a mallet and try that instead; I think you'll find the result, gastronomically, is superior.


your pal,



steve

[Devo37]

http://www.zesco.com/pImages/093/093-D-189.jpg


i wish i would've had one of these to smash the supposed "flank steak" i had for dinner last night. it was like eating a car tire! i could barely cut through it with a steak knife!!!

is there any truth to the idea that the average person has several pounds of 'unprocessed' meat and other food stuck along the walls of the intestines?

[Chigworthy]

The long and short of it:

Next time you eat some intestine, don't bother with the tenderizer.

[Dr Steve]

i wish i would've had one of these to smash the supposed "flank steak" i had for dinner last night. it was like eating a car tire! i could barely cut through it with a steak knife!!!

is there any truth to the idea that the average person has several pounds of 'unprocessed' meat and other food stuck along the walls of the intestines?



I liked this post so much, I gave it it's own thread. :)

http://www.ronfez.net/forums/showthread.php?t=72483

[ANC]

Thanks for the info Doc. I agree that pounding is the way to go. I usually pound out my meat with a mallet or a rolling pin (go ahead Hottub, modquote me :laugh:). Only once in a while do I use tenderizer if I'm strapped for time and have to throw together a quick marinade.

[Thebazile78]

....

The exception to this is of course the stomach ulcer, where acid is able to get through the slime-defense of the stomach and eat away at the stomach wall. That's a whole 'nother subject, though. As far as I can tell there is no association between meat tenderizers and stomach ulcers....

But, Dr. Steve, don't forget about this:

Two guys won the Nobel prize in medicine for proving that a bacterium is responsible for most stomach ulcers (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/science/04nobe.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=heliobacter%20pylori&st=cse&oref=slogin). (Link is to 10/4/2005 NY Times Article by Lawrence K. Altman describing the achievement.)

New studies in Japan indicate that eliminating heliobacter pylori (the bug mentioned in the Nobel prize work) may reduce a stomach cancer survivor's reoccurrence of stomach cancer (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/health/12prev.html?sq=heliobacter%20pylori&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=3&adxnnlx=1219752374-BUXgCV8bx80Ph2cNdzAXLQ). (NY Times, Science/Health Section, 8/12/2008)

(I love the Science section. It makes every Tuesday that much more rewarding.)

[OGC]

Mythbusters had an episode about tenderizing meat a couple of weeks ago. Among the things they concluded was that it is possible to tenderize meat with explosives and a dryer full of ball bearings will do a good job tenderizing your steak (but it will kill the dryer).

[Chigworthy]

Mythbusters had an episode about tenderizing meat a couple of weeks ago. Among the things they concluded was that it is possible to tenderize meat with explosives and a dryer full of ball bearings will do a good job tenderizing your steak (but it will kill the dryer).

Cordite tastes a little off, though.

[Dr Steve]

But, Dr. Steve, don't forget about this:

Two guys won the Nobel prize in medicine for proving that a bacterium is responsible for most stomach ulcers (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/science/04nobe.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=heliobacter%20pylori&st=cse&oref=slogin). (Link is to 10/4/2005 NY Times Article by Lawrence K. Altman describing the achievement.)

New studies in Japan indicate that eliminating heliobacter pylori (the bug mentioned in the Nobel prize work) may reduce a stomach cancer survivor's reoccurrence of stomach cancer (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/health/12prev.html?sq=heliobacter%20pylori&st=cse&adxnnl=1&scp=3&adxnnlx=1219752374-BUXgCV8bx80Ph2cNdzAXLQ). (NY Times, Science/Health Section, 8/12/2008)

(I love the Science section. It makes every Tuesday that much more rewarding.)


yes, and you know, when those guys first suggested that a bacterium could be responsible for stomach ulcers, people laffed and laffed. That's why I really do try to keep an open mind to new ideas...I don't want to look like a goof when they turn out to be right :-)

[Thebazile78]

yes, and you know, when those guys first suggested that a bacterium could be responsible for stomach ulcers, people laffed and laffed. That's why I really do try to keep an open mind to new ideas...I don't want to look like a goof when they turn out to be right :-)

Yup. That's all in the article.

But, I agree, that's definitely the kind of creative thinking that advances learning.

Corporate types call it "outside the box" thinking.