Which burgers are healthier – meat or plant-based? Both have disadvantages

Which burgers are healthier – meat or plant-based? Both have their minuses

The bun matters, too, according to scientists from Illinois.

Fast food restaurants are increasingly offering healthier food and alternative dishes. For example, on the menu you can now find vegetable analogs to meat burgers. Instead of the usual patty, they use pea or soy substitutions. But which of these options is the healthiest?

nutritionist and founder of GetVegetable, a healthy meal delivery service.

To maintain health, your menu should include both plant-based components and animal products.

Elena: It is important to realize that to maintain health, your menu should include both plant and animal products. The main thing when comparing one and another type of meat is proteins. It is on them that the construction of cells of the entire body is based. Protein amino acids are responsible for strengthening bones, stabilizing the nervous and cardiovascular systems. Meat cutlets contain all essential amino acids, which can not be said about their vegetable analogs. Therefore, a product of vegetable origin does not give such a full set of proteins, which is contained in real meat.

Which is healthier – a meat burger or a plant-based burger?

In general, researchers agree that each product has its pros and cons.

Meat burger

Pros:

• Less sodium – about 77 mg in a beef patty and 398 mg in its plant-based counterpart. According to scientists, people with kidney disease or high blood pressure find this fact especially important.
• In terms of the number of valuable substances, beef wins. Unlike the vegetable product, the meat has vitamins of the B group, iron and zinc.

• Beef contains heme iron, which is digested 2-3 times better than non-heme iron in plant foods.

Elena: Meat cutlets are healthier than vegetable cutlets, because natural meat cannot be replaced by any components. Moreover, only real meat contains components necessary for our health – Omega-3, keratin, anserine, glucosamine. They, among other things, affect our immunity and general health.

Cons:

• May contain antibiotics, growth hormones, and other chemicals unless it’s an organic product.
• Contains 20% more saturated fat – scientists link it to cardiovascular disease, so abusing it is not recommended.

• Vegetarian burgers contain less protein: 5-12 g versus 20 g in the composition of the beef product.
• There is phytic acid, a natural component that can interfere with the absorption of iron and zinc.

Elena: In vegetable cutlets there are substances that have an antioxidant effect on the body, as well as phenols and phytosterols – they reduce cholesterol in the blood. Alternative meat is also rich in protein and fiber, and the taste of such cutlets is indistinguishable from beef or chicken.