Plant Based Diet For Weight Loss - How Healthy Are the New Plant-Based 'Fake Meats'?
The answer is yes, according to new surveys financed by U.S National Health Institutes .. found the imitation meats to be a good source of fiber, folate and iron, containing less saturated fat than ground beef. But the researchers said they also have less protein, zinc and vitamin B12 - and very salt.
"The switching of the ground beef for an alternative plant of ground ground beef can be a healthy choice of some ways," said the main researcher Lisa Harnack, the University of Minnesota Public Health School in Minneapolis.
Her Council: Read the label of nutritional facts and choose a product that best matches your health and nutrition goals.
For example, if you are limiting sodium to control high blood pressure, predict products that are high in salt, Harnack said.
"If you are watching saturated fat intake for heart health, read the label to make sure that you are choosing a product that is low in saturated fat," she said. "Some products contain both or almost both saturated fat and ground beef."
The Harnack team used a food and nutrient database at the University of Minnesota which includes 37 alternative ground-based plants meat products made by nine food companies.The analyzed products are from Amy, Inc.; Beyond the meat; Coragra, Inc.; Impossible food Inc.; Kellogg in CO.; Kraft Foods, Inc.; Marlow Foods Ltd.; Tofurky; and Worthington.
Although these plant-based products can be healthy alternatives to beef, Harnack expects their manufacturers to make them even healthier by maintaining salt to a minimum.
"Food companies should work to optimize the nutritional quality of their products, especially in relation to the quantity of salt and other sodium-containing ingredients used in the formulation of vegetarian burgers and other alternative plant-based meat products", Harnack said.
Samantha Heller, a senior clinical nutritionist at NYU Langone Health in New York, reviewed the findings.
She noted that the World Health Organization classified processed meats (deli meats, bacon and sausage) as potentially causing cancer, and red meat (calf, lamb, beef and pork) as likely causing substances of cancer, due to processing, compounds in meat and cooking methods.
"Limiting the consumption of red and processed meats significantly reduces saturated fat intake," Heller said.
The sodium in some imitation meats based on plants can be moderate to high, but if most of the foods people eat are less processed, it should not be a problem, she added it.
"All in all, eat more plants and less animals is good for your health and planet's health," said Heller.
But "alternative meat" is not an ideal term, she added, because she establishes expectations of taste.
"While some" meats "based on her plants arrive near the taste and texture of real meat, the idea is that these foods offer a different choice for the protein, not an exchange of a wave for meat or other animal food "Heller explained.
There are many options for those looking for a more plan-based diet, she said.
"Whole foods are better, but there are plenty of a Wiggle room to include alternatives of meat, dairy, poultry and herbal ovates," Heller advised. "Daily if we eat a balanced and rich diet in plants, we must be able to meet our nutrient needs." The discoveries were published on June 15 in the magazine of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.. More information
For more on herbal diets, go to the medical committee for responsible medicine.
