- The researchers compared protein absorption between plant-based meat and chicken meat.
- Protein absorption was higher for chicken meat than for plant-based meat.
- The researchers concluded that the nutritional value of plant-based meats could be improved by modifying the formulation and production conditions.
In recent years, plant-based meats have become more common as a way to ‘enjoy the taste of meat’ without harming animals or the environment.
Although low-fat plant-based meats and cholesterol levels can help reduce obesity and risk of cardiovascular diseases, studies show that they may be less digestible than meats of animal origin.
Knowing more about how plant-based proteins are digested could help assess their viability as a major source of dietary protein.
Researchers recently compared the protein absorption of plant-based meat with that of chicken meat. They found that plant-based protein was less well absorbed during an in vitro digestion process than chicken protein.
The study was published in the Journal of Food and Agricultural Chemistry.
For the study, the researchers created a plant-based ‘chicken’ meat from soy concentrate and wheat gluten. The final product had a protein content of 24.2%.
The plant-based meat was then cooked together with the chicken meat, ground to simulate the chewing process, and passed through a 2.36-mm sieve to avoid sample size-induced effects on sample size. digestion of the two samples.
The resulting “meat clumps” were then subjected to various in vitro tests to model protein absorption during digestion.
From these tests, the researchers found that the water solubility of plant-based meats increased gradually during in vitro digestion, reaching about 8% after gastric digestion and then 14% at the end of intestinal digestion.
However, they found that the chicken peptides were consistently more soluble in water than the plant-based peptides.
Furthermore, they noted that of the 110 peptides identified in plant-based meat, around 50% remained after the digestion process.
Meanwhile, of the more than 500 peptides identified in chicken meat, only 15% remained after digestion. This, they wrote, suggested that chicken peptides are more easily absorbed than those of plant origin.
When asked what might explain why human cells absorb less protein from plant-based meats than chicken, Dr Da Chenpostdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University and an author of the study, said Today’s medical news:
“Proteins undergo digestion before being absorbed by human intestinal epithelial cells. After digestion, proteins are mainly converted to peptides. The size and polarity of peptides have been reported to be closely associated with their uptake.”
“In our study, peptides produced from the digestion of plant-based meats were larger [and less water soluble]which makes them pass through epithelial cells more slowly compared to chicken, resulting in lower absorption efficiency,” he explained.
Professor VM (Bala) Balasubramaniamof the Ohio State University Department of Food Science and Technology, which was not involved in the study, agreed.
“I agree with the author’s observation on this. As they noted, chicken meat proteins exhibited better swelling ability, which helps promote digestive enzymes. Soy proteins contain certain antinutritional factors (eg, phytate and tannins) that can limit protein hydrolysis. [water solubility],” he said MNT.
“In addition, structural differences between plant and animal foods may also influence how proteins are released,” he added.
David Julian McClementsdistinguished professor in the Department of Food Sciences at the University of Massachusetts, who was also not involved in the study, noted that digestibility and absorption depend on several factors, including:
- type of protein
- protein denaturation
- protein aggregation
- food matrix effects
- antinutritional factors
- processing and cooking methods
Therefore, he said the findings of this study might not apply to all plant-based meat comparisons.
An example of this is that wheat gluten is No soluble in water and has more rigid structures than soy and chicken proteins, making it less digestible. Since the plant-based meat in this study was 28% wheat, the present findings may not apply to plant-based meats made solely from soy.
The authors concluded that the nutritional value of plant-based meats could be improved by modifying the formulation and production conditions.
“When evaluating the quality of plant-based meat, not only the texture but also the protein nutrition should be considered,” said Dr. Da Chen MNT.
“The study findings begin to provide insight into how different plant and animal proteins influence human health. This will allow food processors to understand the advantages and limitations of different food processing technologies and ingredients.”
— Prof. Balasubramaniam
Dr. Chen also emphasized that plant-based meats remain viable sources of protein.
“For consumers, plant-based meats would still provide valuable protein nutrition because they contain a good amino acid profile. Whether consumers should eat more plant-based meat to get equivalent nutrition is beyond the scope of the present study because it depends on daily protein intake, which has not been done,” he said.
When asked about the limitations of the study, Dr. Chen said, “We only use soy/wheat proteins as the main protein source for analog meat production, for those who do with other proteins or different formulations, the results could be different.
“Our study [also] only in vitro digestion is used, it may show some differences compared to in vivo digestion. Future [studies] should focus more on clinical trials,” he added.
However, Dr. McClements noted that this study and others like it are crucial. He said: “If we’re going to replace animal-based foods with plant-based alternatives, we don’t want to have any adverse effects on human nutrition and health.”
“Consequently, it is important to design plant-based foods so that they have a similar or better nutritional profile and digestibility/absorption behavior than the animal-based foods they are designed to replace,” he concluded.
