A serving of Beyond Burger or Impossible Burger, compared to the same amount of 85% lean ground beef, is significantly higher in sodium, and equal in calories, fat and saturated fat, says Heather Wolfe, MPH, RDN, LD, a health and wellness coach at Dartmouth-Hitchcock. The saturated fat in some meat mimickers comes from tropical oils such as coconut oil and palm oil, which are not good for heart health. Plant-based alternatives do not have cholesterol, though, “because plants don’t have livers,” Wolfe says, “and they offer a little bit of fiber, which you do not get in a [meat] burger.”
Clearly, although many consumers perceive commercial meat alternatives as more healthful than meat, that is not always the case. Data about the direct effects that highly processed foods have on human health is still emerging, Wolfe says, but at a minimum research has shown that in general, nutrient loss occurs when a food is highly processed.
There are plenty of meat substitutes out there these days (think Beyond Burger), but what are their nutritional values? Are they really healthier than meat?
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