Plant-based meat alternatives have always been touted as being just as ‘safe’ as their animal coun-terparts. But now, it appears science has found a link between ‘fake meat’ and depression. Bad news for brands such as Beyond Foods and Impossible…
Why not just skip the intermediate step, involving PBMAs, and
go directly to all-vegkie, non-processed veggie foods?
Plant-based Meat Alternatives (PBMAs) have been considered a wise and wonderful bridging ‘tech-nology’ to help the meat-eating masses segue to a plant-protein-based future. Climate change and associated sustainability factors are pushing us all in the direction of plant-based foods. And every few months, new studies emerge telling us the pace of that journey is accelerating.
What they did
A team from the University of Surrey (UK) wanted to get objective readings on the health of vege-tarians using PBMAs compared to others consuming conventional veggie diets.
The study – the first of its kind, published in Food Frontiers – analysed data from the UK Biobank, a long-tern health information collection project.
What they found
The team, led Dr. by Hana Navratilova, found that vegetarians who consumed PBMAs had a 42 per-cent increased risk of depression compared to vegetarians who refrained from PBMAs.
However, researchers found no notable differences in intake of sodium, free sugar, total sugar, or saturated fatty acids between those vegetarians who ate PBMAs and those who did not. The only difference was the PBMAs.
Specifically, the team fund those who eat PBMAs had higher blood pressure, higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels (a marker of inflammation), and lower levels of apolipoprotein A (a protein associated with HDL, a ‘good’ cholesterol). In other words, a triple whammy.
The reasons for the stark difference in findings between the two groups were not immediately clear. But the team did suggest that the PBMAs are considered to be ultra-processed foods (UPFs). And as such, they appeared to be producing the same kind of health issues as other, non-vegetarian UPFs.
The takeaway
Dr. Nophar Geifman, Senior Author of the study report, says: “[…] plant-based meat alternatives may be a safe option when they are part of an overall balanced diet. However, the potential link between these types of food, inflammation and depression warrants further investigation.”
My take
I’m intrigued as to why plant-based UPFs produced the same unhealthy effects as mainstream UPFs in the Surrey study.
But there are alternatives to PBMAs. And they lack only the superficial resemblance to traditional meats offered by products from Beyond and Impossible Foods.
Given that we’re all going to end up beyond Beyond, so to speak, as we shift to plant-based diets, might we just as well skip an unhealthy, intermediate step?
~ Maggie J.