Is it possible to go Beyond meat?

Is it possible to go Beyond meat?

​

​

Read Time: 10 minutes

​Read online​

Good morning, 66.1ers.Thanks for your patience, as this issue is coming to you later in the day than I like.It was a busy week at my 9-5 and this is a hearty topic.My hope is that it helps you make a more informed decision next time you're considering a plant-based meat alternative.

Housekeeping:

A quick favor:

If you find today’s newsletter valuable, could you please share it with one person you think might find it useful?

This would make all the difference to us as we build this newsletter and help people live healthier, for longer.If this email was forwarded to you, I invite you to subscribe here.

A quick refresher for anyone who's new to the newsletter: 66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US. We're here to extend that.

In case you missed it:​Wednesday's issue of 66.1​

In this week's issue of 66.1:

A deep dive into how plant-based meat alternatives stack up to meat.

-What's a "complete" protein?-Are saturated fats shortening your life?-Why plant-based may not be as healthy as advertised

Background

You’ve probably seen it in the grocery store: meat replacement products like Impossible Burger, Beyond Burger, and others. Plant-based meat alternatives aimed at replacing your ground beef consumption. With all the buzz surrounding these meat alternatives, I thought it would be worth learning more.

Over the course of this article, we’re going to explore the nutritional value of meat replacements compared to the meat they’re attempting to replace.

By the end, you’ll have a clear idea of how meat replacements stack up to real meat from an animal when it comes to human nutrition.

The ingredients

I had initially planned to compare Impossible® Burgers and Beyond Burgers® to ground beef. As I got to reading, though, it became clear that Beyond Burgers stand head and shoulders above Impossible Burgers when it comes to human nutrition. Given 66.1’s focus on human health, we’ll focus on Beyond Burgers today. We'll compare Beyond Burgers to organic grass-fed ground beef. I took the liberty to choose this beef option because it's healthier than grain-fed beef and comparable in price to Beyond meats.

For starters, I invite you to take a glance at the ingredient list for both Beyond Burger and beef:

Beyond Burger: Water, Yellow Pea Protein*, Avocado Oil, Natural Flavors, Brown Rice Protein, Red Lentil Protein, 2% or less of Methylcellulose, Potato Starch, Pea Starch, Potassium Lactate (to preserve freshness), Faba Bean Protein, Apple Extract, Pomegranate Concentrate, Potassium Salt, Spice, Vinegar, Vegetable Juice Color (with Beet).

17 ingredients.

​

Organic Grass-fed Beef: Organic Grass Fed Beef

1 ingredient.

Now that you’re familiar with the ingredient lists, let’s look at how beef compares to Beyond Beef.

A side-by-side comparison

Protein

The main macronutrient (of the three–fat, carbs, and protein) provided by meat and meat replacement products is protein. At first blush, beef and Beyond Beef appear to be equals. A 4 oz serving of 85/15 Grass-Fed Organic ground beef contains 23 grams of protein. The same serving size of Beyond Beef contains 21 grams of protein.

The question to ask when it comes to protein, though, is, “Is this a complete protein?”. A complete protein is a protein source that provides all nine essential amino acids. An essential amino acid is one that our body does not produce naturally. Now, pea protein, unlike many plant proteins, actually does have all 9 essential amino acids. It’s technically a complete protein. However, it’s not perfect. Pea protein is low in the essential amino acid methionine. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, this means it should be used as one of many different protein sources rather than making it a dietary staple.

Animal proteins (including ground beef), on the other hand, are complete proteins.

In the protein department, grass-fed, organic ground beef wins.

​

Fat

Because both beef and Beyond Burger have a significant amount of fat, it’s worth exploring this macronutrient further. Oils are the fat source in a plant-based burger. When we look at oils, we’re hoping for non-processed oils because these don’t cause inflammation like other oils might. For more information, I encourage you to read Dr. Cate Shanahan’s book Food Rules.

Beyond Burger is made with Avocado Oil, a healthy oil. It has (according to the packaging) 75% less saturated fat than 85/15 ground beef.

If saturated fat is unhealthy, that’s a compelling statistic.

But let’s dive a little deeper. The American Heart Association’s response to the question, “What are saturated fats?” is simply, “A fat that is solid at room temperature.” Over time, we’ve been led to believe that saturated fats “clog” arteries. A solid at room makes it sound like an arterial blockage is just a bite away. Never mind the fact that normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius). Coconut oil, for example, is a saturated fat. If you’ve seen coconut oil at 98.6 degrees, you know it’s not solid. And I’m no plumber, but it’s hard to clog much of anything with a liquid.

Here’s the deal: as far as I can tell (based on a significant amount of reading) saturated fats aren’t inherently bad. This will be a topic to address in full in a future issue, but the most compelling arguments advise that more important than type of fat (saturated or unsaturated) is the source of the fat. If you’re getting your dietary saturated fat from a bag of potato chips fried in vegetable oil, for example, that’s not ideal. If it’s from organic, unrefined coconut oil, you’re probably ok.

Frankly, in the 10+ hours I spent researching and writing this piece, I never did find compelling evidence that could lead me to confidently tell you that the fat in organic grass-fed ground beef is healthier than the avocado oil in a Beyond Burger or vice versa. A hung jury, if you will.

Do as you please with that information...

Organic

Importantly, Beyond Burgers are not organic. This means the peas used to create the pea protein in a Beyond Burger could have been treated with chemicals that are detrimental to human health, including glyphosates (active ingredient in the weed killer Roundup). And it’s likely these chemicals are used: in 2020, Beyond Meats announced a deal to source their pea supply from the French company Roquette. And we don’t have to look far to connect the dots between chemical use and Beyond Meat: this report from Roquette indicates that 73% of growers who supply Roquette used a herbicide on their crops.

All that’s to say that your Beyond Burger likely has some traces of glyphosate in it. And if its presence alone isn’t enough to deter you, consider studies like this one from UC-Berkeley implicating glyphosate in liver inflammation and metabolic disorder.

The Elephant in the room

Now, you might be asking, “So are you telling me to eat more beef?”. An avid beef eater myself, I’d like for that to be the case. But, there’s an important body of evidence that suggests that high levels of red meat consumption are associated with increased risk of heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, cancer, and other chronic diseases. We can’t just brush this one under the rug.

There is also a large cohort of folks in the longevity space who violently disagree with such studies. Peter Attia, Mark Sisson, and others have all written scathing rebuttals.

There are a few points worth highlighting from Dr. Attia and others who dispute the “red meat is linked to chronic disease” studies:

1. Correlation doesn’t mean causation​​Dr. Attia makes the point that eating more processed meat, for example, is associated with lower socioeconomic status, which is associated with decreased access to healthcare. The flip side of this coin is that many people who go out of their way to cut red meat out of their diet are extremely health conscious: they’re probably the same people who have developed a regular exercise habit, get their 8 hours of sleep every night, and have fine-tuned their supplement routine.​

2. We don’t have the evidence for TMAO​Trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is the latest culprit in the “red meat kills you” debate. There’s correlation between higher TMAO levels in your bloodstream and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. There’s also a correlation between red meat consumption and increased TMAO levels. Correlation, not causation. Now consider the significant research that indicates a diet high in fish (which contains a higher level of TMAO than beef) is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. Mixed signals, to say the least. This study suggests a number of factors to consider before assuming a causal relationship between TMAO levels, cardiovascular disease, and red meat.​

All told, I haven’t seen compelling evidence for implicating healthy (organic, grass-fed, non-processed) red meat as a causal factor for heart disease, Type 2 Diabetes, or any other chronic disease.

Merging science and common sense

Whether you’re a vegan, a carnivore, or somewhere in between, there are a certain few nutrition principles you need to navigate by if you’re looking to build a lean, strong, durable body.

The most important of these is to eat real, unprocessed foods.

Whether that’s meat, vegetables, or a little bit of everything isn’t something I have an opinion on for you as an individual. Different foods affect everyone differently.

Personally, I feel most energetic, focused, and strong when I’m eating meat. I encourage you to explore how you feel on different diets and stick to an eating plan that works for you.

If you choose not to eat meat, it’s wise to eat the cleanest plant-based protein you can afford. And you’ll need to do your research into the different types of plant-based protein to ensure you’re getting adequate amounts of all 9 essential amino acids in your diet.

If you choose to eat meat, it’s wise to eat the cleanest (organic, grass-fed, wild-caught) meat you can afford. Wild game is ideal–you’re eating an animal that spent its life running around and foraging in the wild–but if you don’t have this option available to you, look for the aforementioned labels when you’re grocery shopping. The statistics on wild-caught vs farmed fish and grass-fed organic vs grain-fed beef are best reserved for a future issue of 66.1 so we can pay them proper attention, but I assure you, not all meat is created equal.

​

For now, I encourage you to zoom out and honestly answer this question: do you really, genuinely believe that a patty made of chemically treated peas and avocado oil can provide you the same nutritional benefit as meat from an animal that ate its natural diet and was not treated with chemicals?

​

If you find yourself standing in your local grocery store debating whether to spend $8.99 on a pound of organic grass-fed ground beef or $9.99 on a pound of Beyond Beef, I’d go with the ground beef every time.

And if you’re looking to source some wild-caught seafood or grass-fed beef for your holiday celebrations, I encourage you to check out CrowdCow at this link.

​That’s all for this Saturday.What did you think of today's issue?Send me a reply here.

See you on Wednesday.

Have fun out there.

Marcus​​​If you enjoy 66.1, I'd be humbled if you shared it with a friend.Please forward this email to anyone you think would find it valuable.If this email was forwarded to you, please consider supporting us by subscribing here.

Why 66.1?​66.1 is the average health span (years lived without a serious disease) in the US, as of the start of this newsletter publication.​We're here to extend that.