Well-cooked meat is better for older tums

ELDERLY people should order their steak well done to prevent sarcopenia — the agerelated degenerative loss of muscle mass and strength — suggests a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Researchers at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research gave ten volunteers aged between 70 and 82 rare or well-done steak. Blood tests found they took in fewer amino acids — the building blocks for protein and muscle — from the rare meat.

The study authors noted young people can digest rare and well-done meat at about the same rate, but older people struggle to break down protein in rare meat.