Is Plant Based Meat Healthy?

This is a complicated question I receive a lot as a vegetarian. It’s a complex question because of the different layers of questions in side the main question. Some of those questions are: Is it healthy in comparison to real meat? Is it healthy for loosing weight and dieting? Is it safe to put scientifically grown food in your body? These are all good questions to keep in mind when thinking about switching to vegetarianism or eating more plant based meats. Starting off with the first question, health wise how does it compare to real meat? To answer this question I had to do research on the two biggest plant based meat companies: Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger. Calories wise, Impossible and regular meat both have 240 calories and Beyond Meat has 250 calories. Impossible and Beyond Meat is made up of minerals, vitamins and great protein. Some of the vitamins plant based meat adds that real meat has is b12 and zinc. Real meat and plant based meat have the same amount of protein but, plant based meat protein is made of up soy, mung beans and peas which have been linked to reducing cancer. Some negatives on plant based meat, that some real meats have as well, is it is heavily processed and is high in saturated fats and sodium. Foods with higher saturated fats often lead to heart disease, but eating a normal amount of this meat won’t effect a healthy heart. More details about the nutritional value of the burgers are listed below:

If you are comparing plant based meat to regular meat, their different pros and cons add up to make them about equal. The next question is related to the reason a lot of people go vegetarian in the first place, dieting. If you’re trying to loose weight, is plant based meat or regular meat better? Considering the high amounts of saturated fat and calories, I would recommend black bean burgers instead. Black beans burgers have a lot of great nutritional value, but they will never compare to the taste of a plant based burger. If you are trying to think of foods to add to your dieting list, black bean burgers would be a great item to add. The last question is in regards to people who are hesitant to try meat that was made in a lab. Don’t worry, it is safe to eat. There are no harmful chemicals for you or the environment that are put into these plant based meat products. Speaking of the environment, even though plant based meat isn’t much better for dieting, it’s ten times better for the environment. To read more about that go to my next blog post.

Emily Gelsomin, LDN. 2019. “Impossible And Beyond: How Healthy Are These Meatless Burgers? – Harvard Health Blog