Meat sweats are a common ailment among competitive eaters, a special form of torture you have to endure when you eat too much protein. But what are meat sweats? If you’re asking, I’m guessing you’ve been lucky enough to never have experienced them. Essentially, meat sweats are when your body goes into overdrive to digest all the protein-packed meat you just ate, and in response, you begin sweating like you’ve just run a marathon. Although highly unpleasant, getting the meat sweats won’t hurt you, but you’ll definitely wish you’d practiced more portion control.
What Causes Meat Sweats?
Although “meat sweats” isn’t a scientifically backed term, the thermic effect of food (TEF) is widely accepted. Basically, the TEF is the amount of heat your body requires to break down protein. In order for the body to break down proteins, core temperatures are raised due to the process of transferring the nutrients to fuel for the body. However, when ingesting large amounts of protein, the body endures a great struggle to break it down without changes and instead raises its core temperature to 20-30 percent higher than at resting to do so. Protein is the cause of these sweats due to it being the hardest macronutrient for the body to break down.
Not Everyone Will Experience These Sweats
We can all swear to have sweat out at least once due to large consumptions of meat, but it is mostly only seen at a high caliber in men. One study blames these sweats on the temporarily increased metabolic rates after eating, which affect men greater than women.
However, those simply eating lean meats instead of fatty cuts have a higher chance of experiencing these sweats, as the TEP is higher when more protein is present. This is all based around the idea of different digestion heat for different macronutrients, which states that fats are much easier to break down than protein. Because of this, the amount of meat needed for perspiration to begin depends on each person. Factors such as daily meat intake and weight are all independent factors to the TEP law.
If the meat sweats are something you would like to avoid at your next barbecue, make sure to limit your hotdog and hamburger consumption while only going for meat if you can visibly see the fat still attached — or indulge and just make sure to have a hefty layer of both antiperspirant and deodorant on.