Meatless burger is a new hot trend in the food industry. Several fast-food chains including such big names as Burger King and McDonald’s introduced meatless options to their menus. Meatless burger means that it doesn’t have any meat in it both in processed and unprocessed form.
But is a meatless burger actually any healthier? That is the question we want to answer in this post.
Meat in a meatless burger is replaced with a complex chemical mix that fully imitates meat taste. This mix includes Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Potato Protein, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors. Also, minor components of the mix are Soy leghemoglobin, Yeast extract, Soy Protein Isolate, Xanthan Gum, Konjac Gum, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, Niacin, Zinc.
Even though meat proteins are completely replaced by soy and potato proteins preparation of meatless burger steel requires use of coconut and sunflower oil to get the taste right. This results in higher saturated fats than in meat burgers. An impossible meatless burger contains 8g grams of saturated fat in 113 grams patty while regular meat burger only has 6g.
Sodium content is higher in a meatless burger from Impossible Burger. It has 370 milligrams of salt while real meat burger has 82 milligrams. That’s why people with high blood pressure should be careful with meatless burgers since they worsen the symptoms due to high sodium intake from salt.
Protein content is higher in real meat burger. Meat burger contains 29 grams of protein while Impossible Burger contains only 19 grams of protein.
Carbohydrates are higher in Impossible Burger at 9 grams. Real meat burger patty has no carbohydrates in it.
On a positive side meatless burger contains more vitamins in comparison to a real meat burger. It has more B12, iron, and thiamin than a real meat burger. Soy leghemoglobin contained in Impossible Burger has heme iron in it which is easily absorbed and is great for people with iron deficiency.
Another benefit of a meatless burger is its high content of fiber from plant ingredients. Impossible Burger has 3 grams of fiber out of 27 grams recommended for daily consumption. Real meat burger contains no fiber at all.
As you can see there are pros and cons in both kinds of burgers. Even though meatless burger lacks any meat its non-meat ingredients still don’t make it significantly better than a meat burger. That is why you need to use your judgment and choose for yourself which one you want the most.