JERM Theory
Most people, whether they consider themselves vegan, omnivores, or carnivores, will agree that processed food should be avoided. I have some bad news; plant-based meat is highly processed. It has gained a place in the market because of the bad press meat gets, none of which is deserved. Additionally, plant-based foods are promoted as the healthiest food choice. This post will discuss the processed nature of plant-based meat versus the benefit of including meat in our diet. I will only discuss three ingredients for brevity. I will conclude by explaining what JERM means.
Plant-Based Meat LOL
The concept is laughable because plants can't be meat-period. They may be able to disguise themselves as meat, but they are still mostly plant matter with a bit of fungus added.
The two most popular plant-based meats are Beyond Meat and Impossible Food. The ingredients of the Impossible Burger are Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, and 2% or less of: Potato, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (B6), Riboflavin ( B2), B12.
The ingredients of Beyond Burgers are soy protein, yeast extract, coconut oil, sunflower oil, methylcellulose, and food starch. Both are 100% processed foods, with Impossible using many more ingredients.
Soy Protein
Humans are made of red meat with a distinct amino acid profile. Plants don't have muscles and organs, so they don't need the same amino acids for the proteins they produce. Because of this, plant-based proteins are less anabolic than animal proteins due to lower digestibility, essential amino acid content (especially leucine), and sulfur amino acids or lysine. Plant amino acids are directed toward oxidation instead of muscle protein synthesis. 1
Sunflower and Other Vegetable Oils
A study noted that the increase in consumption of the type of oil found in sunflower oil (linoleic) paralleled the increase in the prevalence of diabetes, obesity, and asthma. 2 Studies indicate that heating vegetable oil before consumption can be potentially hazardous to cardiovascular health. Prolonged consumption of repeatedly heated oil has been shown to increase blood pressure and total cholesterol and cause vascular inflammation and changes predisposing to atherosclerosis. The harmful effects of heated oils are attributed to products generated from lipid oxidation during heating. 3 You can read my more detailed post about vegetable oils here.
Soy Leghemoglobin
Soy Leghemoglobin is a controversial ingredient in Impossible Foods. It is genetically modified soy that adds to the flavor and color of the burger while making it "bleed" like red meat when cut. The soy is genetically engineered by adding it to modified yeast, then fermenting it to create a heme-like compound. 4 The Center for Food Safety opposes the approval of a new color additive petition for GMO 'heme' because the raw product and genetically engineered yeast were not tested, the approval will allow the use of GMO 'heme' in new cell-based products without additional testing, the product is not properly labeled, and FDA failed to meet the "convincing evidence" standard for approval of new color additives, according to CFS. CFS notes a conflict of interest in studies on the safety of genetically engineered soy leghemoglobin, as some authors work for Impossible Foods. 5
Processing Plants versus sustainable farming
Impossible Burgers have at least 20 ingredients, which likely means that at least twenty factory locations are involved in manufacturing it. I am not a fan of factory-farmed meat for the same reason I don't like factory-formed food. On the other hand, grass-fed cattle live a natural life. The carbon they emit comes from the grass they eat, and that carbon was taken out of the air when the grass grew. Contrary to what we are constantly told, the carbon cattle add to the atmosphere was taken from it a few weeks prior, so there is no additional carbon added to the atmosphere by grass-fed cattle.
JERM
Shockingly, humans are made out of fatty red meat packed with cholesterol. Somehow, we are supposed to believe that eating fatty red meat with cholesterol is equivalent to eating poison. Are we made of poison? I say no. Whatever nutrition we take in, even if it is just vegetables like avocado toast, our body is determined to assemble the ingredients into fatty red meat loaded with cholesterol. The nutrients found in animal-based food are more bioavailable than that of plants. So plant-based nutrition looks better on paper because the nutrients listed are not fully utilized. We get more of the nutrients we need from meat to make and maintain the meat we are made from. Because of the processed nature of plant-based meat, the greater nutrient content, and bioavailability of meat I say Just Eat Real Meat, or JERM for short.