Beyond Meat - Is It Healthy?
/There have been a lot of alternative meat products that have been coming out lately and they are all touting health benefits. So here I am to break it down for you!
The two biggest brands on the market are Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods. This is not a slam on either company, this is simply a break down of their ingredients.
I decided to go with “Beyond Meat” since that one is the most popular one on the market at the moment:
The first ingredient is water. I have nothing against that!
The second ingredient is pea protein isolate. I have recommended to people that they take a protein powder made of pea protein, especially if they cannot consume whey or casein powders. (I rarely suggest this though. It’s best to eat real sources of protein!) Since peas are legumes, there can be a bit of an issue with people who have legume or peanut allergies. I would consult your health care professional or your nutritionist before trying this if you have an allergy.
The third ingredient is where the ingredients get a little iffy. Expeller-pressed canola oil is made from a hybridization of the rapeseed plant. Canola means “oil from Canada” and is not a plant that is found naturally in nature. It is higher in trans-fatty acids because of the omega 3 that is taken out of the oil. This allows it to have a higher burn temperature and be more shelf-stable.
The oil is removed by a combination of high temperature mechanical pressing and solvent extraction. Traces of the solvent (usually hexane) remain in the oil, even after considerable refining. Like all modern vegetable oils, canola oil goes through the process of caustic refining, bleaching and degumming–all of which involve high temperatures or chemicals of questionable safety. And because canola oil is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which easily become rancid and foul-smelling when subjected to oxygen and high temperatures, it must be deodorized. The standard deodorization process removes a large portion of the omega-3 fatty acids by turning them into trans fatty acids.
I feel like I’ve come to a conclusion already with whether or not these burgers are healthy with just listing canola oil, but I’ll continue!
Refined coconut oil is the next ingredient. They do not tell how the coconut oil is refined so I’m unsure if this is a good ingredient or a bad ingredient. Some refined coconut oils are bleached with a natural clay and some are bleached with chemicals.
The next ingredients are Mung beans (not bad), Methylcellulose (probably bad since it’s usually made from chemicals), Potato Starch (I try to stay away from this), Apple Extract, Salt (is it table salt or sea salt? They don’t tell you), Potassium Chloride (is a food additive that can cause diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea), Vinegar, Lemon Juice Concentrate, Sunflower Lecithin (can have some health benefits if processed properly), Pomegranate Fruit Powder, Beet Juice Extract (for colour).
My verdict is that this is not natural and you should not be consuming it. The reviews on it go from “it tastes amazing!” to “this is absolutely disgusting”, but that doesn’t really matter since most of it is not natural and something that humans shouldn’t be eating.
I’ll stick with my grass-fed hamburger that I make myself, thank you very much.