Nath
A plant-based diet is a common meal plan for people who are health conscious. However, some people are wondering if plant-based meat is healthier than real meat.
Plant-based meats are more sustainable and environment-friendly alternatives to meat. Simply, they are made up of plants but the taste and look like meat.
The common ingredients of plant-based meat are soybean, wheat gluten, lentils, yuba, tempeh, a variety of nuts, and other legumes.
Accordingly, the example of plant-based meats are the following:
- tofu
- seitan
- falafel
- tempeh
- Mock duck
Interestingly, two companies produce plant-based meats in the market: Beyond Meat and Impossible Food.
“The Impossible Burger has heme, a molecule found in every plant and animal, that makes the burger taste eerily similar to real meat. It’s been selling like a storm at Burger King and other grocery stores, and was one of the first products to really change the game of plant-based meats,” Caroline Roberts stated on the Cnet website.
“On the other hand, Beyond Meat is sold at rival restaurant Carl’s Jr. and other fast food chains like Subway. It uses pea protein and beet juice to bleed like real meat. Beyond Meat is widely available at supermarkets like ShopRite, Target, Safeway and Costco, so you can pick it up on your next grocery haul,” she added.
Keep in mind that eating vegetables-based meat does not have similar nutrients relative to real meat. Plus, Toby Amidor from Food Network revealed that the biggest issue of the alternative meat is the numerous additives.
What is beneficial for consuming plant-based meats is the reduction of sodium intake. Most people who prefer a plant-based diet were enticed of its health benefits.
“By incorporating plant-based meats into their diet, ordinary people can cut down on their weekly meat consumption, improving their overall health in the process,” as cited in the article from Global Citizen.
Opportunities of Plant-based Meat Industry
According to Golden Website, the following are the innovations of the vegetable-based meat :
- Discovery of plant proteins with desirable properties
- Development of techniques for efficiently isolating desired plant proteins
- Formulation of plant-derived proteins with other ingredients
- Manufacture and processing of specific plant proteins
- Distribution of plant-based meat products
