They may be highly processed, but plant-based meat alternatives are still better for your heart than meat, says a review article appearing today in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.
The review looked at available studies published from 1970 to 2023 on PBMAs, their contents, nutritional profiles, and their impact on cardiovascular-disease risk factors.
The conclusion was that plant-based alternatives improve those risk factors, which include cholesterol levels and blood pressure over meat.
Heart-healthy choice
“For those looking to reduce their meat intake, especially if it’s red meat, replacing that with PBMAs is likely a heart-healthy choice,” says Dr. Ehud Ur, staff endocrinologist at St. Paul’s Hospital’s Diabetes Centre and thyroid clinic and professor of medicine at the University of BC. He is the senior author of the CJC review.
PBMAs are highly processed plant-based food products that typically replace meat in the diet. They contain proteins derived from soy, peas, wheat and other foods.
They are sold under such brands as Beyond Meat and Yves Veggie Cuisine. The market is huge and growing as consumers are more aware of the potential health, environmental, and ethical benefits of eating more plant-based foods, the review concludes.
The market was an estimated $10 billion US last year, according to data firm Statista.
The Canadian government invested $153 million into plant-based protein development in 2018, and a 2022 analysis estimated 12-per-cent growth in the country’s market by this year, the CJC review says.
Questions about healthiness of PBMAs prompts review of their health benefits
The growing demand for these coincides with public-health recommendations to reduce ultra-processed food consumption. “For this reason, the potential health implications of PBMAs have been questioned by the public and health professionals,” the review says. And that prompts the need to investigate the long-term health implications of PBMAs, according to a news release accompanying the report.
Little known about the plant-based meat alternatives’ heart-health effects
Lead author Matthew Nagra, a naturopathic doctor in Vancouver, says while the plant-based meat market has seen huge grown in recent years, not much is known about these foods’ effect on health, particularly cardiovascular disease risk. “Thus, we sought to review the available literature on the topic to identify what is currently known and to provide direction for future research.”
The authors’ analysis shows:
- There is substantial variability in the contents and nutritional profiles of PBMAs.
- On average, PBMAs tend to have a more heart-healthy nutritional profile than meat, although the high sodium content of some products may be of concern.
- PBMAs have been shown to improve some cardiovascular risk factors, including cholesterol levels, in several randomized controlled trials.
- PBMAs have not been shown to raise blood pressure, despite the high sodium content of some products.
- There is currently a lack of long-term research evaluating how these alternatives may affect the risk of developing a heart attack or stroke.
- There is currently little research on the healthfulness of some common components of PBMAs, such as vital wheat gluten (seitan).
This story is adapted from the full CJC study that you can read here.
