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Food · Animal Foods · Red Meat
food source · 4
Pork is one of the richest common sources of thiamin (vitamin B1): lean pork has about 0.6–0.9 mg per 100 g, several times as much as beef. Thiamin sits in the lean meat, so a fatty cut such as belly dilutes it.
Mechanism · The pass glucose needs to be burned
Once rice and noodles are broken down into glucose, it has to get into the mitochondria before it can be burned for energy. In the body, thiamin is converted into thiamin pyrophosphate (TPP), the pass that gate requires; without enough of it, the sugar piles up outside. So when thiamin runs short, the first to suffer are the nerves and the heart, which burn the most energy and can least switch to other fuels; the numb hands and feet, swelling and heart failure of beriberi all start here.
Numbers · Lean pork and polished rice
Lean pork has about 0.6–0.9 mg of thiamin per 100 g, several times as much as beef. Thiamin sits in the lean, so choosing belly dilutes that whole list of micronutrients. In grains, thiamin is concentrated in the bran and germ, and polishing rice into white rice loses about 70–80% of it, which is why beriberi historically spread with polished white rice.
→Zinc
Lean pork is a well-absorbed animal source of zinc. Meat contains no phytate, so its zinc is not locked up the way it is in whole grains and beans.
Mechanism · Phytate does not lock up animal zinc
Zinc from animal foods is absorbed much better than zinc from plants: the phytate in whole grains and beans locks zinc up, and meat has none. The zinc in pork sits in the same lean meat as its protein and thiamin.
In practice · Who tends to run short of zinc
Pork cannot match the zinc density of oysters, but it is a well-absorbed share among everyday meats. The people more likely to run short of zinc are mostly those who eat a mainly plant-based diet over the long term, people with digestive or absorption problems, and women who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
B12 comes almost only from animal foods. Lean pork carries a share, in the same lean meat as its protein, thiamin and zinc.
Mechanism · It follows the lean
The B12 in lean pork sits in the muscle tissue together with thiamin, zinc and protein. Choose a fatty cut, and fat dilutes all of these micronutrients at once.
In practice · An everyday share
Pork is not as high in B12 as liver or clams; it is one share on an everyday plate with meat. People who eat no animal foods at all get none of it and need fortified foods or a supplement.
Lean pork is complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, and thiamin (vitamin B1), zinc and B12 sit in the same lean meat, so choosing a lean or a fatty cut changes more than the calories.
Mechanism · The nutrients follow the lean
Pork protein is complete, with all nine essential amino acids and plenty of leucine. Protein, B1, zinc and selenium sit in muscle tissue, because they are parts muscle needs for its work; fat tissue supplies little besides calories. So for the same hundred grams, tenderloin versus belly changes not only the calories but the concentration of that whole list of nutrients.
Numbers · Tenderloin versus belly
Raw pork tenderloin has roughly 20–22 g of protein, 3–5 g of fat and 0 g of carbohydrate per 100 g, at about 120–145 kcal. Pork belly often runs 30–50 g of fat per 100 g, pushing calories above 500 kcal. Keep raw and cooked weights apart: cooking drives off water, so the figures per 100 g go up.