
Vegan and vegetarian meat substitutes could pose health risks - elorant
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-11/researchers-warn-of-health-dangers-of-fake-meats/11498310
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makerofspoons
I think many miss that these aren't health foods. A Beyond burger doesn't
become healthier than a beef burger just because there's no beef- it's still a
burger. It's salt and fat. The point of these products is to fulfill a demand
for veg/vegan junk food, not to make fast food healthier.

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aiscapehumanity
'processed foods' is such an empty term, that can mean anything. If they want
to say too many sugars or salts, they should just say it. 'Processing' can
even mean seasoning. Smh.

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olyjohn
As soon as you run meat through a grinder, hasn't it gone through a process?

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javagram
The article warns that the products contain salt, fat, and sugar.

Sugar is undoubtedly a health risk but salt and fat aren’t necessarily bad for
you. I think the medical consensus on recommended salt levels is still subject
to debate.

Many of these substitute foods probably are “ultraprocessed” and may be of
questionable value to health, though. When it comes to a plant-based burger,
personally I pick something like a lentil/quinoa/barley burger over one that
tries to pretend to be meat.

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cthalupa
> I think the medical consensus on recommended salt levels is still subject to
> debate.

[https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/09/salt-not-
as-...](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/aug/09/salt-not-as-damaging-
to-health-as-previously-thought-says-study)

Yeah. We're pretty horrific at figuring out what's actually a health issue and
what isn't. Twenty years ago the research said carbs were good, salt and fat
were bad. Now most of the research coming out seems to go the other way.

