Health Tips > Nutrition Bites > The What, Why & How of Meat Alternatives

The What, Why & How of Meat Alternatives

With plant-based diets on the rise, there’s growing interest in plant-based alternate proteins. But what are some of these alternatives, and how have they become so popular?

Meat alternatives are either plant-based or grown in the lab. They’re a food product that replaces animal protein with an alternative made from vegetarian or vegan ingredients. The two types of meat alternatives are:

Plant-based meat
Cell-based meat

Plant-based meats

There are two types of plant-based meat, traditional and novel. Traditional are made from tofu, wheat and gluten. Novel is from a plant-based textured product created to imitate meat. Many products contain a blend of plant-based foods such as whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, lentils and peas. The result is a variety of substitutes for burgers, breakfast meats, chicken, fish and pulled pork.

The goal is to mimic the taste and texture of animal-based protein with fruit and vegetable extracts. Plant-based fats such as canola and coconut oil are often added to mimic the fat in traditional meat.

Cell-based meats

Cell-based meat are also called in vitro, artificial, clean or lab-grown meat. They typically use a biopsied muscle cell from an animal. The first cell-based meat burger was developed in 2013 with multiple researchers and a price tag of $280,400! This was more of an experiment versus a sellable product. With the continued development of cell-based meats, they are beginning to make their way into restaurants in the United States.

CBM uses extracellular heme proteins, such as myoglobin, to produce the product. Making the mouthfeel as authentic to real meat as possible is tricky, but the key is growing and culturing fat cells. The fat cells are then combined with the muscle cells. The USDA and FDA have approved a cell-based meat chicken product that is for sale in the United States with two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods. You can find their products being used in restaurants in San Fransisco and Washington, D.C.

Why choose meat alternatives?

Reasons for choosing a meat alternative are more complicated and vary from person to person. Environmental concerns is one reason. Red meat production accounts for approximately 23% of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), while the footprint of other meats such as lamb, pork and poultry fall lower on the GHG list.

Cost is another big factor, as vegetarian sources of protein can be cheaper than animal sources. Health is also an important factor for many who want to decrease saturated fat intake. Plant-based diets are associated with a decreased risk of:

Type 2 diabetes
Colorectal cancer
Overall mortality
Coronary heart disease

Nutrient profiles of meat alternatives and what the research says

Currently upwards of 4,400 meat alternative products are for sale globally. This poses quite the question to consumers to decide if they wish to include them in their diet. Are plant-based proteins a better choice? Most research focuses on traditional plant-based meat and has concluded that incorporating nutrient-dense plant proteins into your diet will improve total cholesterol and lower LDL cholesterol.

A quick comparison of a meat-based burger and plant-based burger have similar nutrition profiles. Both have saturated fat due to the coconut oil in plant-based burgers and the saturated fat in the animal burger. The omega-6 fatty acids are higher in the plant-based burger. The protein and mineral content are close, but the meat-based burger has a more complete amino acid profile resulting in it being healthier. It is also important to be aware of the sodium content of plant-based meats which may be high (see comparison table below).

Current studies of cell-based meat do not comment on the scale of antibiotics used or the impact it could have on food-borne disease. Other questions include deforestation due to the need for plant-based meat ingredients being farmed. A research article out of University of California Davis shows the carbon footprint could be higher to produce cell-based meat products in a similar way pharmaceuticals are produced.

As dietitians, we encourage you to be conscious of your choices and do what works best for your budget and health. For example, cut back on red meat to no more than twice a week and incorporate chicken, turkey and fish during the week. Aim to limit processed foods and eat more plant-based foods such as fresh fruit, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds.

For some easy ways to increase plant-based foods, add:

Mushrooms to a beef stir-fry to cut back on the beef
Great northern beans to pasta instead of chicken
Tofu in a stir-fry instead of pork

Remember to look at the big picture when evaluating new products and ask a registered dietitian nutritionist for assistance.

To schedule an appointment with one of our specialists to learn more about meat alternatives, visit cooperclinicnutrition.com or call 972.560.2655.

Article provided by Amber Grapevine MS, RDN, LD, and Cooper Clinic Nutrition.