Kangaroo (Loin Fillet)
Food · Protein · Food, Typed Supps
A very lean red meat — high in protein and iron, with far less fat than most beef.
Stage by stage
- Intake (Chewing begins): Chewing starts breaking down the dense muscle fibres.
- Stomach (Protein digestion starts): Stomach acid and enzymes begin breaking down the protein.
- Small intestine (Iron, B12 & amino acids absorbed): Heme iron and B12 are absorbed efficiently, along with amino acids from the protein.
- Bloodstream & muscle (Used for red blood cells & muscle repair): Iron and B12 support red blood cell formation; amino acids repair and build muscle.
Timing
Any meal — heme iron absorption doesn’t depend on pairing with vitamin C or avoiding other foods the way plant iron does.
Time to effect
- Hours to weeks: Muscle repair begins within hours of eating; measurable changes in iron status take weeks of regular intake.
Allergens
None of the fourteen major allergens. Derived from what this food is, not from a product label.
Eating patterns
Fits: Keto, Gluten-free. Depends on the product: Halal, Kosher, Low-FODMAP.
Satiety
218 on the satiety index, where white bread is 100 — very high. Modelled from the Holt et al. (1995) measurements.
Environmental footprint
39.7 kg CO2e and 1803 litres of freshwater per kg, matched to "Lamb & mutton" in Poore & Nemecek (2018), Science 360.
Cost band
Pricey — roughly £14 per kg, as a band midpoint rather than a price.
Key nutrients
Nutrition per 100g
- Calories: 94.9
- Protein: 21.4g
- Carbohydrate: 0g
- of which sugars: 0g
- Fat: 0.9g
- of which saturated: 0.3g
- Fibre: 0g
- Sodium: 40mg
Food vs. supplement
A 100g serve provides heme iron absorbed several times more efficiently than a supplement’s non-heme iron, plus B12, zinc, and over 20g of complete protein a plain iron tablet doesn’t offer.
Kitchen tip
Sear it hot and fast and serve rare to medium-rare — its very low fat content means well-done kangaroo turns tough quickly.
Common myth
“Kangaroo, as a game meat, must be tough and strongly flavoured.” In reality: Kangaroo is comparatively mild-tasting; its tendency to turn tough comes from overcooking a very lean cut with almost no fat to buffer it, not from the meat itself.
Recipes that use it
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