What is lab grown meat made of?

Q: So, first of all, what elements make up meat?

Meat is mostly made of water, protein and fat. Nutritionally speaking, meat is a source of amino acids, many B vitamins (such as B2, B3, B6, B12), vitamin K, vitamin A, as well as several essential minerals, including iron, zinc and phosphorus.

Q: And then, what is protein?

Biochemically speaking, protein is a long series of amino acids strung together that form large molecules with different shapes and biological functions. Although there are hundreds of naturally occurring amino acids, only 20 of them are capable of complexing with one another to form a protein. Proteins are unique in that the length, ratio and order of amino acids differ between them. Protein is found in every cell, whether that cell comes from a mammal, insect, plant or bacteria. Protein is essential for all life, no matter how complex or simple the organism might be.

As for its role in nutrition, protein found in food is broken down by the body to form individual amino acids, where those amino acids are then recycled and used as the building blocks to form new protein that the body needs for various biological processes.

Ultimately, it’s the amino acids that make up protein that are nutritionally essential, rather than protein itself.