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Plant-based ‘meats’

By Fieke van Halder

Plant-based, does it literally mean that the product contains plants or is it created in a plant (a place where an industrial or manufacturing process takes place)?
Let’s delve into the subject of fake meats, known as plant-based meats.

Fake meats fall into two categories: plant-based proteins and cell-based proteins.

  1. Cell based:
    Currently, only plant-based proteins are available in the UK, but that will most likely expand to include meat-based proteins soon. Cultivated meat, also known as cultured meat, is genuine animal meat (including seafood and organ meats) that is produced by cultivating animal cells directly. This production method eliminates the need to raise and farm animals for food.(1)

    A newly introduced bill named the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) bill will: “remove unnecessary barriers to research into new gene-editing technology, which for too long has been held back by the EU’s rules around gene-editing, which focus on legal interpretation rather than science – hindering the UK’s world-leading agricultural research institutions,” says Defra.

  2. Plant-based meats:
    The plant-based burgers and sausages found on supermarket shelves are made by extracting the protein from plant foods, with a multitude of additives needed to make these products look and taste like traditional meat. I haven’t found a plant-based meat product with less than 20 ingredients.

    For example, chemically refined coconut oil and palm oil are often added to plant-based burgers to help mimic meat’s soft and juicy texture. Colouring agents, such as beetroot extracts, have been used in Beyond Meat’s “raw” burger to mimic the colour change that occurs when meat is cooked. And the additive soy leghemoglobin, produced by genetically engineered yeast, has been used to create the Impossible Foods “bleeding” burger.(2)

According to GlobalData, the market value of the global meat substitutes reached $7 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 8.82% during 2017-2021, whereas it grew at a CAGR of 15.63% in the US during the same period. (3)

“Meat is basically protein, fat, and water. Our game is to find all that in plants and reassemble it against the architecture of meat.”

— ETHAN BROWN, CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF BEYOND MEAT (Beyond Meat is re-imagining meat in El Segundo with great success – Daily Breeze)

Categories of plant-based meats

There are generally 4 different categories of plant-based meat products, they are based on pea, soy, wheat protein, and mushroom. Soy and mushrooms have got the most complete amino acid profile. Pea and wheat protein both do not contain all 9 essential amino acids, but more about this later. Of all the brands we looked at, none of the plant-based meats contain less than 20 ingredients. The devil is in the detail, so below we have taken a random plant-based meat product, available in the main supermarkets in the UK and taken a closer look at the main food groups that this product contains.


Ingredients

Take for example the Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers (available at Tesco, Asda, Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Aldi and Lidl) which contains the following 33(!) ingredients;

Water, Rapeseed Oil, Textured Pea Protein (8%), Red Pepper, Tomato Paste, Mushroom, Pea Protein, Potato Starch, Stabilisers (Methyl Cellulose, Konjac Gum), Dextrose, Pea Fibre, Tapioca Starch, Maple Syrup, Parsley, Maltodextrin, Coriander, Colour (Paprika Extract), Demerara Sugar, Sea Salt, Salt, Smoked Paprika, Rice Flour, Garlic Powder, Roast Garlic Powder, Paprika Flakes, Chilli Flakes, Paprika Extract, Caramelised Sugar Powder, Black Pepper, Cumin, Beetroot Powder, Sunflower Oil. (4)

Typical Values: Per 100g Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers

  • Energy 869kJ / 208kcal
  • Fat 11.1g         
  • Saturates 1.0g
  • Carbohydrate 14.5g      
  • Sugars 3.9g     
  • Fibre 3.7g        
  • Protein 10.6g   
  • Salt 1.15g        


Protein

The pea protein accounts for the biggest amount of ‘plant’ used in this product, mainly to add the missing protein to a vegan’s life. The recommended dietary allowance of protein for an adult is about 0.8 grams per kilogram of your body weight. This would mean for example that an 80 kg man would need about 64 grams of protein a day. If you’re active, you’ll need a little more.

The plant-based mince mentioned above contains 10.6gr of ‘plant protein’ per 100 gr serving. In eating the entire 350gr, an 80kg man would therefore consume 37.1gr of protein, about 58% of their daily needed protein. The producer suggests that 1 serving contains 2 bangers, or 108gr which would result in 11.4gr of protein (18%).

However, pea protein has a downside. The only real drawback of pea protein according to dietitian Anthony DiMarino, RD is that because it’s a plant-based protein, it’s not as “bioavailable” as other proteins. “In other words,” he adds, “our bodies can’t readily use them. They don’t have essential amino acids. If you’re using pea protein, you’re still getting protein but be sure your diet includes foods that possess the necessary amino acids that help your body absorb the pea protein.” “Remember the food-first approach and treat pea protein as an additional part of your daily intake, not in place of something else,” he says. (5)

The missing amino acids in pea protein are cysteine and methionine. Rice protein, for instance, is high in the sulphur-containing amino acids, cysteine and methionine, but low in lysine. Is it appropriate for manufacturers to be focusing only on gross protein content, without addressing the range of essential amino acids and their bioavailability? With consumer demand driving manufacturers to create products that resemble the look, smell and feel of meat, will this inevitably lead to inadequate nutritional content?

As one vegan food critic writes in his food blog ‘Serious Eats’;

There are a lot of words on the faux-meat-burger labels, and many of them are probably unfamiliar to you, but it’s not particularly useful to ponder them too much. For what it’s worth, they are all found in nature. (?!)

Vegan “Impossible” and “Beyond” Burgers Bleed, but How Do They Taste? (seriouseats.com)

Oils:

Vegetable oils including corn, soybean, sunflower, canola and safflower oils, are all found to be rich in omega 6, inflammatory polyunsaturated fats. According to Dr. Mark Hyman omega 6 fats not only fuel your body’s inflammatory pathways, but also reduce availability of anti-inflammatory omega 3 fats in your tissues, resulting in more inflammation. (6)

Today, 80-90 percent of the rapeseed oil in the U.S. is GMO, while GMO rapeseed is banned across the European Union. (7) The UK produces around 1 million tonnes of oilseed rape each year, which is worth £595 million to the UK economy. There are 400,000 hectares of oilseed rape here in the UK, and the average yield per hectare is 3.4 tonnes.

Most oils used in the food industry are highly processed, and rapeseed oil is no exception.

A chemical solvent known as hexane is added to “clean” the oil. Then, a water filtration process removes free fatty acids, gums, and unappealing colours. Hexane residues are known to be left behind in the extraction process, adding yet more chemicals to our diets and increasing the costs and requirements for testing and regulation. (8)

E-numbers

Not all E-numbers are ‘evil’ but generally we suggest E-numbers should be avoided.

The “E-numbers” in the ingredients list of your packaged foods replace the chemical or common name of particular food additives. These are used to enhance the colour, flavour, texture or prevent food from spoiling. (9)

On this list, you can find some relatively benign additives such as saffron (E164), paprika (E160), vitamin C (E300), or sodium bicarbonate (E500). Others are produced using chemical processes, of which some are worthy of caution despite being approved by the authorities after testing. (10)

E-numbers have been discussed regularly in the news over the last decade, due to hyperactivity and allergies mostly in children, like the Southampton Six (11). Hence why most producers now don’t mention E numbers anymore but revert back to the actual product name.

The Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers contain methyl cellulose (E461) which is a water-soluble polymer chemically modified from natural cellulose. (12)

Methylcellulose is a filler used to add bulk — rather than more real ingredients — to processed foods. It’s a cheap additive that allows processed food manufacturers to increase the weight and improve the texture of products without adding any nutritional benefits. Methylcellulose is the active ingredient in many laxatives, but animal studies indicate that the additive may promote colorectal cancer at levels typically present in processed foods. (13)

The other E number in disguise is E 425 I a.k.a. Konjac Gum. Konjac Gum is created by drying the tuber of the Amorphophallus konjac plant and then milling it into konjac flour.

Konjac gum is used to thicken, stabilize, emulsify, and suspend ingredients in foods and beverages. It helps create rich textures without adding calories, fat, or carbohydrates to foods. (14) In human studies, gastrointestinal discomfort (i.e. laxative effects, flatulence, full stomach, feeling of hungry and abdominal distension) has been reported in several clinical human studies included in two meta-analyses. (15)

Carbohydrates

The carbohydrates in the Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers are: Maltodextrin, Potato Starch, Tapioca Starch, Rice Flour.

Maltodextrin is a type of carbohydrate, but it undergoes intense processing. It comes in the form of a white powder from rice, corn, wheat, or potato starch. Its makers first cook it, then add acids or enzymes to break it down some more. The final product is a water-soluble white powder with a neutral taste and no nutritional value. The glycemic index (GI) in maltodextrin is higher than in table sugar. This means that the powder can cause a spike in your blood sugar shortly after eating foods that contain maltodextrin. (16)

Potato Starch is high in carbs and potassium and low in fats. Tapioca is a starch extracted from the storage roots of the cassava plant, a species native to the North and Northeast regions of Brazil, but whose use is now spread throughout South America. Tapioca is almost pure starch, so is largely made up of carbs and can be considered a source of “empty” calories, since it provides energy but almost no essential nutrients. (17)

Rice flour is a low-carb, gluten-free alternative to wheat. It’s high in fiber and protein, but the downside of most rice flours is that they contain phytic acid, which can inhibit nutrient absorption when consumed on its own. Rice flour, compared to whole wheat is low in folate and the phytonutrient lignans. (18)

Salt

Salt levels in plant-based products are high but vary between products. Plant-based mince can contain up to six times more sodium than meat equivalent products, whereas plant-based sausages contain two thirds less sodium on average compared to real sausages.

The Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers contain 1.15g per 100g which is about 19% of your daily recommended intake. On average it is recommended that an adult should consume a maximum of 6g of salt per day. Eating too much salt has been found to contribute to high blood pressure, which is linked to the development of other conditions such as heart disease, kidney problems, fluid retention, stroke and osteoporosis.

Hence plant based meat brands trying to use potassium salt to try and reduce the sodium levels in their plant-based mince product. (19) Generally the plant-based products we have looked into all contained a high amount of salt. (20)

Sugar

The Wicked Kitchen Chorizo Style Bangers mentioned above contains four different types of sugar: Dextrose, Maple Syrup, Demerara Sugar, Caramelised Sugar Powder and a total sugar content of 3.9g of sugar per 100g. Compared to a pork sausage that is quite high, generally pork sausages contain between 0.5g and 1.5g of sugar per 100g (not taking Pork & Apple sausages into consideration).

We all know the implications on our health when it comes to consuming sugar. Eating sugar releases opioids and dopamine in our bodies. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is a key part of the “reward circuit” associated with addictive behaviour.

Consumption of added sugars has been implicated in increased risk of a variety of chronic diseases including obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as well as cognitive decline and even some cancers. (21)

Soy-based ‘meats’

Soy is still consumed widely by vegans and vegetarians as a source of protein and many of the plant-based products are still based on soy. Soy was prized for both the high protein content and versatility. Most people have since woken up to the fact that soya, a traditional food in East Asia, is very high in anti-nutrients (factors that block nutrient absorption in the body) (22). Soya has also been found to be extremely high in phytoestrogens which can disrupt the function of hormones in our bodies. (23) A diet high in soya therefore may contribute to bone density and hormone issues seen in long-term vegans. (24)

Since the vast majority of soy grown today is genetically-modified, it is possible that plant-based meats on soy-basis contain GMOs. The Impossible Burger (found in plenty of restaurants in the UK, but not yet found in supermarkets) changed its recipe to use GMO soy in 2019 and actually tested 11 times higher for glyphosate (the primary active ingredient in Roundup) than the Beyond Burger. (25)

A bit of background information about soy;
‘Soybeans have two primary products: oil and meal. Initially the meal was considered a by-product of the oil business, but today instead the meal is considered a co-product. The oil has a number of human uses including as a processed food ingredient, cooking oil and bio-diesel. It is also still used in soaps, and industrial products. Most of the meal is used for animal feed mainly for chickens and pigs in confined animal operations [CAFO], but also for pet dogs and cats as well as dairy cows. A small amount of the meal is further refined into flour and or isolates for human consumption. These are the isolates used in many plant-based products since they are a concentrated source of amino acids (protein). These isolates and flour are derived from soybeans grown for crushing…not soybeans grown specifically for food. The vast majority (95%+) are also GMO crops bred to be resistant to herbicides like Round-up (active ingredient glyphosate). (26)

Soybeans, in their unfermented state, contain high concentrations of phytate (also known as phytic acid), one of the most common types of antinutrients—found in seeds, nuts, legumes, and grains. (27)

Phytic acid raises concern as it causes a concomitant loss of indigestible complexed minerals and charged proteins through fecal excretion and results in reduced mineral bioavailability in both livestock and humans. Therefore, feeding on high-phytate soy-based diets are often feared to exacerbate mineral and protein malnutrition. (28)

Absorption

A recent study in mice, suggests animal-based food contains more bioavailable nutrients than ultra-processed, plant-based meat. The article writes that the digestibility of plant-based meats compared to real meat is less. The research also suggests that plant-based meats weaken the gastrointestinal digestive function. Read the entire article here (29)

Their results suggested that; ‘plant-based meat analogues weaken gastrointestinal digestive function of mice, and their digestion and absorption performance in vivo is not as good as the real meat.’

In another study (30) researchers compared protein absorption between plant-based meat and chicken meats and found protein absorption was higher for chicken meat than for plant-based meat. Dr. Da Chen, a post-doctoral researcher at Ohio State University claims:

“Proteins are subjected to digestion before being absorbed by human intestinal epithelial cells. After digestion, proteins become mainly peptides. The size and polarity of peptides have been reported to associate closely with their absorption.”

“In our study, peptides produced from the digestion of plant-based meats were larger [and less water soluble], which makes them pass through the epithelial cells slower compared to chicken, resulting in less efficiency of absorption,” he explained. (31)

Diet choices

We would always advise to eat foods as close to their natural form as possible. The preference would be regenerative and organic sources but if that is not possible for you, pick products that you can still recognise as foods. A good rule of thumb is ‘More than 5 ingredients on the label, put it back on the shelf!’

As mentioned in our blog ‘Regenerative Agriculture – the answer(s)’, never before have so many of us tried to make a difference with our diet choices, be that vegan, vegetarian, foraging or eating regenerative. We can only make a more informed decision about what foods we put into our bodies and our children’s bodies when we try to look at the bigger picture. What we eat is important, but crucially so is how it is grown, raised or fabricated.

There is no denying that most plant-based meats are highly-processed foods. Given that a diet made up of a diverse variety of unprocessed wholefoods is the most sensible way to obtain sufficient nutrition, it makes sense to avoid processed foods as much as possible. Processed foods are a killer for your gut microbiome as Dr Ranjan Chatterjee describes in his blog;

‘Quit highly processed food; anything with a long list of ingredients. They can have a terrible effect on the microbiome. Some additives, emulsifiers (chemicals added to highly processed foods to keep the texture consistent), pesticides and artificial sweeteners can decimate gut bugs as well.’ (32)

Jessie Shafer (a registered dietitian) describes how because of their processed nature, plant-based meats don’t provide a plethora (or sometimes any) of the nutrients that make whole plant foods so good for you, such as significant amounts of fiber, vitamins, minerals, monounsaturated fats, and polyphenols. (33)

It is common to see marketing for vegan foods promoting their products with claims like; 96% land use, 92% less water use and 91% less CO2 emissions than burgers produced from cows. However, the data these companies use all unjustly compare their plant-based products to industrialised beef production, in which the cows live in feedlots (34 – p.21)

Regenerative Agriculture could provide an answer; ‘Emerging data indicate that when livestock are eating a diverse array of plants on pasture, additional health-promoting phytonutrients—terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and antioxidants — become concentrated in their meat and milk. Several phytochemicals found in grass-fed meat and milk are in quantities comparable to those found in plant foods known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and cardioprotective effects.’ (35)

Choosing a vegan diet to end animal suffering, boost your health and reverse climate change might not be the right step if your diet includes monoculture crop grown vegetables, plant-based meats and avocado’s flown halfway around the world. And with up-and-coming vegan food companies like Impossible Foods who have (in the past) tested their ingredients on rats to produce their burgers, the end of animal suffering is certainly not the case. (36)

For the sake of the health of our planet and all that lives on it, we all need to make more well-informed holistic choices towards our diet. This is so difficult in our current society where it is almost impossible to figure out which sources to trust and believe: (37)

If money-grabbing corporations get their way, we may see the promotion of a food system totally dependent on processed industrial foods. Just take a look at George Monbiot’s proposed solution of a farmless future in which we use bacteria to produce carbohydrates, proteins and vitamins. Yummm!


References;

  1. Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill 2022-23 – House of Commons Library (parliament.uk).
  2. Is fake meat healthy? And what’s actually in it? (theconversation.com)
  3. Growing Demand for Meat Alternatives – GlobalData
  4. Wicked Kitchen 6 Chorizo Style Bangers 350G – Tesco Groceries
  5. Pea Protein: Nutritional Benefits & Types – Cleveland Clinic
  6. Dr. Mark Hyman: Why Vegetable Oils Should Not Be Part of Your Diet – EcoWatch
  7. How British Farmers Are Making Rapeseed (Canola) Posh And Flavorful : The Salt : NPR
  8. Evaluation of Hexane Content in Edible Vegetable Oils Consumed in Iran contamination of edible oils with hexane | Open Access Pub
  9. Explainer: what are E numbers and should you avoid them in your diet? (theconversation.com)
  10. The truth about e-numbers and why you should care – Goodnesst
  11. Replacing the Southampton 6 colours at Campden BRI
  12. What is Methylcellulose (E461) in Food: Uses, Safety, Side effects (foodadditives.net)
  13. Methylcellulose – Clean Food Facts (consumerfreedom.com)
  14. Konjac gum – Food Ingredient Facts
  15. Re‐evaluation of konjac gum (E 425 i) and konjac glucomannan (E 425 ii) as food additives – – 2017 – EFSA Journal – Wiley Online Library
  16. What Is Maltodextrin? (webmd.com)
  17. What Is Tapioca and What Is It Good For? (healthline.com)
  18. Is Rice Flour Good for You? – Well-Being Secrets
  19. Is fake meat healthy? And what’s actually in it? (theconversation.com)
  20. Salt content of plant-based meat products ‘unnecessarily high’ (foodnavigator.com)
  21. Relationship between Added Sugars Consumption and Chronic Disease Risk Factors: Current Understanding – PMC (nih.gov)
  22. Enzymatic Reduction of Anti-nutritional Factors in Fermenting Soybeans by Lactobacillus plantarum Isolates from Fermenting Cereals – ScienceDirect
  23. The pros and cons of phytoestrogens – PMC (nih.gov)
  24. Veganuary or Regenuary? – Primal Meats
  25. Plant-Based Meat: The Pros & Cons Of Veggie Burgers (foodrevolution.org)
  26. Soy 101 – Regenetarianism (wordpress.com)
  27. Soy Antinutrients – Today’s Dietitian Magazine (todaysdietitian.com)
  28. Frontiers | Development and Evaluation of Low Phytic Acid Soybean by siRNA Triggered Seed Specific Silencing of Inositol Polyphosphate 6-/3-/5-Kinase Gene (frontiersin.org)
  29. Plant-Based Meat Analogues Weaken Gastrointestinal Digestive Function and Show Less Digestibility Than Real Meat in Mice | Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (acs.org)
  30. Characterization and Cellular Uptake of Peptides Derived from In Vitro Digestion of Meat Analogues Produced by a Sustainable Extrusion Process | Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (acs.org)
  31. Protein from plant-based meat may not be as well absorbed (medicalnewstoday.com)
  32. How To Eat To Boost Your Mood – Dr Rangan Chatterjee (drchatterjee.com)
  33. Are Plant-Based Meat Substitutes Healthy? What You Need to Know (bhg.com)
  34. Beyonooooood Burger LCA report v3.1 FINAL (umich.edu)
  35. Frontiers | Health-Promoting Phytonutrients Are Higher in Grass-Fed Meat and Milk (frontiersin.org)
  36. Does Impossible Foods Test on Animals? (greenmatters.com)
  37. The Truth About The Guardian’s Plant-Based ‘Ethics’ | AdapNation

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