Body Absorbs Plant-Based Meat Less Than Animal-Based Meat: Study

Many people are taking the path of veganism in order to protect animals. They restrict themselves from consuming animal-based products such as meat, eggs, milk and so on. As it is quite evident that animal products are the best source of proteins, many people still not consume them. They are switching onto the plant-based protein sources. But is it as effective as the animal-based protein? Recently, a study has suggested that protein from the plant-based meat alternatives may not be as accessible to human cells as those from real meat.

The study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have suggested that fake meat such as vegetarian meat made up of soyabean do not give enough nutrition to the human cells in comparison to the real meat. The study was conducted in a lab-based settings where the group of researchers grew a layer of human gut cells on a platform which was further divided in to two chambers. Then, they used enzymes from plant-based meat and chicken breasts to see the absorption of protein in both the chambers separately. After that the digestion process was closely examined by the researchers of the Ohio State University. In four hours, they noticed that about two per cent less protein from the plant-based meat have travelled and transferred through the gut cells in comparison to the protein from the chicken breast.

As quoted by science news portal, New Scientist, “Even though plant-based meat alternatives had fewer peptides being absorbed, they still provide a good profile of amino acids and could be an adequate complement to a well-balanced diet,” said the researchers Osvaldo Campanella and Da Chen. Not just this, the researchers further want to look for ingredients that can help boost the peptide uptake of plant-based meat substitutes.