The research reveals that the dietary worth of meat alternate options at the moment available on the market is usually insufficient, primarily based on elements corresponding to uncooked materials choice (usually imported soybeans), processing strategies (antinutrient content material), and added components (fats high quality, salt).
The emergence of plant-based protein choices as alternate options to meat has grown considerably as extra people undertake a plant-based eating regimen. Nonetheless, the dietary worth of those merchandise continues to be a priority. Research from Chalmers College of Expertise It was present in Sweden that lots of the meat substitutes bought in Sweden are excessive in iron, however it’s in a type that the physique can’t take up.
Professor Anne-Sophie Sandberg, Division of Biology and Organic Engineering, Chalmers College of Expertise. Credit score: Chalmers
A eating regimen consisting largely of plant meals corresponding to root greens, pulses, fruits, and greens has an total low local weather impression and can also be related to well being advantages corresponding to decreased threat of age-related diabetes and heart problems, as has been proven in a number of giant research. . However there have been far fewer research on how individuals’s well being is affected by consuming merchandise primarily based on what are often called plant proteins.
Within the new research by Chalmers, a analysis group on the Division of Meals Science and Vitamin analyzed 44 totally different meat substitutes bought in Sweden. The merchandise are made primarily from soy and pea protein, but additionally embrace fermented soybean product and mycoproteins, that’s, proteins from fungi.
“Amongst these merchandise, we noticed nice variance in dietary content material and the way sustainable they had been from a well being perspective. On the whole, the estimated absorption of iron and zinc from the merchandise was very low. It’s because these meat alternate options comprise excessive ranges of phytates, antinutrients that inhibit the absorption of minerals in physique, says Cecilia Meyer-Lappa, lead creator of the research, who lately defended her thesis on dietary restrictions for switching from animal protein to plant-based protein.
The physique loses important minerals
Phytates are discovered naturally in beans and grains – they accumulate when proteins are extracted to be used in meat substitutes. Within the digestive tract, the place minerals are absorbed, phytates type insoluble compounds containing important dietary minerals, notably non-heme iron (Iron present in plant meals) and zinc, which suggests they can’t be absorbed within the gut.
Iron and zinc additionally accumulate in protein extraction. For this reason excessive ranges are listed among the many components of the product, however the minerals are certain to the phytates and can’t be absorbed and utilized by the physique,” says Cecilia Meyer-Laba.
Dr. Cecilia Meyer-Labba, Division of Biology and Organic Engineering, Chalmers College of Expertise. Credit score: Martina Butorac/Chalmers
Iron deficiency amongst girls is a widespread international downside. In Europe, 10 to 32 p.c of ladies of childbearing age and about one in three adolescent ladies in secondary faculty in Sweden are affected. Ladies are additionally the group most probably in society to modify to a vegetarian eating regimen and eat the least quantity of purple meat, which is the primary supply of iron that’s simply absorbed within the digestive tract.
Clearly, on the subject of minerals in meat alternate options, the quantity obtainable for absorption by the physique is an important consideration. You possibly can’t simply have a look at the components listing. Among the merchandise we studied are fortified with iron however nonetheless inhibited by phytates. We imagine that making dietary claims about these vitamins that may solely be absorbed by the physique can create incentives for trade to enhance these merchandise, says Ann-Sophie Sandberg, professor of meals science and diet at Chalmers and co-author of the research.
The meals trade wants new methods
Tempeh, which is comprised of fermented soybeans, differed from different meat alternate options within the quantity of iron obtainable for the physique to soak up. This was anticipated, because the fermentation of tempeh makes use of microorganisms that break down phytate. Fungal proteins had been characterised by their excessive zinc content material, with out containing any recognized absorption inhibitors. Nonetheless, in accordance with the researchers, it’s nonetheless not clear how our intestine can break down the cell partitions of the fungal protein and the way this, in flip, impacts the absorption of vitamins.
Plant-based meals are vital for the transition to sustainable meals manufacturing, and there’s big growth potential for plant-based meat alternate options. The trade wants to contemplate the dietary worth of those merchandise and make the most of and enhance recognized course of strategies corresponding to fermentation, but additionally develop new methods to extend the absorption of varied vital vitamins,” says Cecilia Meyer-Laba.
Manufacturing of plant proteins
- Most plant protein merchandise available on the market are primarily based on protein extracted from a cultivated plant, corresponding to a soybean, and separated from different plant components.
- The protein is then subjected to excessive stress and temperature, which restructures the proteins, often called construction so {that a} extra meaty and chewy product could be obtained together with the opposite components.
- Chalmers’ research exhibits that the dietary worth of meat alternate options obtainable at the moment is usually poor relying on the selection of uncooked supplies (usually imported soybeans) and processing circumstances (antinutrient content material), and on components (fats and salt high quality).
- A 150-gram serving of meat various contributes as much as 60 p.c of the utmost really useful every day quantity of salt, which is 6 grams in accordance with Northern Vitamin suggestions.
Reference: “Dietary composition and estimated bioavailability of iron and zinc for meat substitutes obtainable on the Swedish market” By Inger Cecilia Meyer-Lappa, Hannah Steinhausen, Linnea Almius, Knud-Erik Bach-Knudsen, and Anne-Sofi Sandberg, Sept. 21, 2022, Obtainable Right here. Vitamins.
DOI: 10.3390/nu14193903
The research was funded by the Birtibus Basis, the Swedish Analysis Council, and Västra Götaland Area.