Media seems to say that consuming plant-based meats can help with lowering environmental impact. But how about nutritionally? How does it fare compared to natural food sources?
While plant-based meats are formulated to mimic real meats where they tend to be fortified with nutrients such as vitamins and minerals and have 0mg cholesterol because it isn't from an animal source, there are other concerns that you must know.
What's plant-based meats?
Plant-based meats are often made of isolated proteins and purified fats and oils to imitate the taste, colour, texture and experience of eating real meat. Isolated proteins are usually obtained from legumes, seeds, and cereals. Purified fats and oils are usually obtained from coconuts, cocoa fruit, sunflower seeds, and rapeseed.
Although many of these ingredients used in plant-based meats can be seen as a good source of dietary nutrients, they also contain 'anti-nutrient' factors that are present in plant tissues. They include oxalates, phytates, tannins, and other antagonists. These antinutrient factors inhibit the absorption of various nutrients such as iron, calcium. So even if it is fortified, you may not be able to absorb them.
In addition, most plant meats available in the supermarket are manufactured into sausages, burger patties and nuggets and contain higher amounts of sodium, oils, additives such as colouring, flavoring and binding agents compared to real meat.
Several studies showed that individuals who opt to avoid animal-based foods, tend to choose ultra-processed plant-based meats over natural plant-based sources which compromises the nutritional quality of the diet. Moreover, ultra-processed foods have been associated with several health problems such as obesity, LDL Cholesterol, higher risk of hypertension & heart diseases, etc.
In contrast, real meats have been long regarded as a good source of readily bioavailable nutrients (i.e. readily available for the body to absorb). Due to the amounts and frequency of meat are eaten, the red meat has been criticized as a potential risk factor for the development of various diseases.
How does the plant-based meats fare when we compare it to natural food sources?
Consuming natural plant-based food sources such as beans and bean-related products such as tofu would be a better choice. These natural food sources tend to have low carbon footprint.
When it comes to lowering environmental impact, does plant-based meats really help?
There was a report conducted by the Temasek Foundation, Deloitte & A-star that showed that plant-based meats have a higher carbon footprint compared to chicken & eggs in Singapore's context. Although the report did a projection that when there is a substitution from red meats (where they define as pork, duck, beef, mutton) to plant-based meats there would likely to reduce environmental impact, we would hypothesis that taking other protein-rich food such as chicken, eggs, bean and bean products which are lower in carbon footprint compared to plant-based meats would reduce it further.
We could also purchase more locally farmed protein-rich foods such as fish, seafood and eggs to reduce the environmental impact. We don't necessarily need to opt for plant-based meats for daily consumption.
Key Takeaways
When you dig deeper into whether or not plant-based meats are good alternatives, you would find that it isn't exactly how the media and reports portray it. It could be consumed on occasion, but it won't be an everyday 'meat'.
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