Is false meat better for you than real meat?

You probably heard these two fragments of nutritional tips: eat more plants and cut out ultraProcted foods.

So where does it leave artificial burgers, sausages, samorodles and other products sold by companies such as Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods? They are made of plants such as soy and peas, but are also highly processed.

If you ask companies, they will tell you that their products are good for you. Nutrition experts claim that there may also be benefits. But although it is clear that eating red meat and processed meat is associated with health threats such as heart disease, some types of cancer and earlier death, we don’t really know yet how false alternatives can affect our health in the long -term perspective .

How do they compare their nutrients?

Nutrient profiles of phony muscle products may differ significantly, but two scientific reviewsBoth published in 2024 suggest several designs.

Compared to ordinary meat, such as ground beef, pork sausages and chicken, plant versions usually have less saturated fat (category of fats associated with heart disease) and a similar or slightly lower level of protein.

For example, a four-end burger made of 85 % slim ground beef contains 6.5 grams of saturated fat. Equivalent size Impossible burger it is slightly less than that (six grams of saturated fat) Ia Apart from a burger It has much less (only two grams). On the other hand A Gardein Ultimate Plant Burger It has almost 40 percent more saturated fat (nine grams) compared to ground beef.

When it comes to protein levels, hamburgers are much more similar: beef patties have 21 grams of protein, while three vegetables have from 19 to 21 grams.

Plant-based meat products usually contain fiber-nutrients associated with reduced risk of type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer and heart disease. The impossible burger has five grams, and Beyond Burger has two grams, and Patty Gardein has one gram. Real meat is missing fibers.

The main nutritional downside of vegetable meats is that they usually contain much more sodium than unprocessed and unprocessed meat, such as ground beef, pork cutlets and chicken breasts, said Dr. Dariush Mozaffarian, cardiologist and medical professor at the University of Tufts.

Of course, most people add at least the amount of salt to raw meat before they cook it, said the spokeswoman Beyond Meat in a statement. She said that the current burger and beef products contain less sodium than previous versions, and now they operate avocado oil instead of coconut oil, which reduced the level of saturated fat.

Bogus meat products generally have a better nutritional profile than red meat, said Dr. Frank B. Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at Harvard Th Chan School of Public Health.

“Products are evolving very quickly,” he said, adding that he hopes that they will still improve.

How can phony meats affect health?

In two tiny studies, which studied the health effects of replacing real meat with plant alternatives, such as those from outside meat and impossible food, said that scientists reported mixed results.

One study, Posted in 2024He stated that when 40 people in Singapore ate 2.5 portions of plant burgers, sausages or chicken for two months, they were not healthier than 42 other participants who had similar amounts of real meat at the same time. Scientists used false meat products with Impossible Foods, Beyond Meat, Omnimeat (based in Hong Kong) and a vegetarian butcher (based in Great Britain). This study was financed by an agricultural research company in Hong Kong, which was not interested in the result, said the main author of the study.

In another study – the one financed by Beyond Meat i Posted in 2020 -Iwads found some benefits related to vegetable meat. Thirty -six well adults consumed about 2.5 portions of real meat a day for two months, and about 2.5 portions of plant products outside meat a day for the next two months. At the end of the plant phase, the participants had lower cholesterol levels-they were a few pounds lighter-compared to the end of the real meat phase.

Christopher Gardner, a nutritional scientist and a professor of medicine at the University of Stanford, who conducted the study 2020, admitted that people could be skeptical about his findings because he was financed by moin meats. Nutrition tests financed by the industry end with results that are more beneficial for the industry than research without industry financing. But with restricted federal dollars in the field of nutritional tests, this is often the only way to conduct such tests, said Dr. Gardner.

He tried to minimize bias, for example by analyzing external statistical data and not allowing him to review the results of the study, as long as he was accepted for publication.

Different findings of two studies could have been related to the differences in participants, food products or research project, added Dr. Hu, who said that Stanford’s study was “well -designed and carefully performed”.

Regardless of these contradictory results, the data is “promising”, added Dr. Hu. They suggest that plant products can be beneficial to health-at least not worse than meat. But he said: “We need much larger and long -term research” with independent financing sources to confirm this.

What about processing?

One of the additional complications is that products made of false meat usually belong to the ultra -soled food category, which was generally associated with the greater risk of cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes and other health problems.

Experts say that it is tough to produce products that replicate the tastes and textures of real meat without the operate of highly processed ingredients. But it is not clear whether all ultra -homeicled dishes are harmful, said Samuel Dicken, a researcher at the University College London, who studies ultramuscail.

We need more and better evidence to irritate how different ultra -high -influenced foods affect health. Considering the available data, Dr. Dicken said that vegetable meat was not ultra -transparent dishes that he was most worried about. (Sweet drinks and processed meat were)

Lower line

If you like the tastes and textures of meat, but you want to eat less, phony meat products can be a helpful “entering a more vegetable diet,” said Dr. Hu. He said that they could have some health benefits and the main benefits of the environment.

Even better, all experts agreed, there is a diet from red meat and processed meat, towards more food or less processed sources of vegetable protein, such as beans, lentils, tofu and tempeh. For example, the exchange of plant products, such as legumes and full meat grains, was clearly associated with a reduced risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Dr Gardner also said that food is usually cheaper.

“Beans, peas and lentils, hands, over a burger,” said Dr. Gardner.

Dr. Możaffarian said that you can also try fish and chicken as a healthier alternative to red meat and processed meat. Or, he added, operate the Portobello mushroom for your burger Patty instead of ground beef. “This is a real alternative,” said Dr. Możaffarian.