How to look at plant meat and light food scientifically
【Seeking answer】
The reporter observed that many fast food chains in the market have launched plant-based meat packages. These packages sell at the same or even higher price than normal meat under the slogan of "boutique improvement and adequate nutrition".
At present, vegetable meat on the market is mainly made of vegetable protein extracted from soybeans, peas, wheat and other crops.
In order to pursue the taste of meat, merchants cannot get rid of the ultra-processing procedures, adding a large amount of vegetable oil and additives, which will undoubtedly increase the metabolic burden of the human body.
Scientific research has shown that ultra-processed foods increase the risk of death and cardiovascular disease, with people who eat more than four servings of processed foods a day increasing their risk of premature death by 62%.
"Various vegetable oils are prone to produce trans fats during processing. Hydrogenated vegetable oils, vegetable butters, and vegetable butters are particularly high in trans fats," said Zheng Xixi, an attending physician in the Department of Nephrology, Peking Union Medical College Hospital. Trans fats are higher than meat oils. Saturated fat is more harmful to the human body and is a "killer" for heart health.
Plant-based meat is not comparable to traditional meat.
"First of all, the flavor and aroma are very different from animal meat. The meat flavor mainly comes from animal fat." Yang Runqiang, an associate professor at the School of Food Science and Technology, Nanjing Agricultural University, believes that the nutrition of vegetable meat is not comprehensive. At present, there is only vegetable protein, and subsequent processing When adding some nutrients such as vegetable oil, the nutritional content cannot be compared with animal meat.
Compared with animal meat, plant meat lacks trace elements such as vitamin B12, vitamin D, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.
In addition, anti-nutritional factors, such as phytic acid and trypsin inhibitors, which mainly exist in legumes, are not conducive to the digestion, absorption and utilization of nutrients by the human body.
During the interview, the reporter found that many takeaway merchants promote light food products from the perspective of "reducing the burden on health and practicing vegetarianism", and to a certain extent, light food and vegetarian food are confused with each other.
In fact, light food and vegetarian food should not be equated.
"Light food is a light cooking method. It avoids the heavy oil and heavy salt method of takeout. It restricts energy and pays attention to the matching of ingredients. From a conceptual point of view, light food itself can properly help improve health." Yang Runqiang pointed out that if you eat light all your life Food, the source of ingredients will be single, and the quality of life will be affected. "Now light food is too focused on simple cooking. Some people say that it is like eating grass, so light food is just a supplement."
At present, the relevant national departments have not established perfect standards for plant meat and other foods, so some businesses are walking in the gray area, which also leads to certain safety hazards for such foods.
(Reporter Xiao Renfu, reporter Zhou Wenhui, interviewed and arranged)