While we might switch to a plant-based diet with the best intentions, the unseen risks of vegan fast foods might not show up for years.
No British train station or high street would be complete without a Greggs bakery. The merchants of mass-produced pastries are as quintessential as they come. And last year they won plaudits for turning vegan. On the back of their success, other fast food brands shortly followed suit.
In fact, Greggs’s vegan sausage rolls have been so successful, the company announced a “phenomenal year” for sales in 2019 driven in part by their new product and that they would share a £7m ($9.17m) bonus equally between staff.
Like the sausage roll, another staple of British fast food, fish and chips, has had a vegan make-over. Replacing cod or haddock with the plant-based tofu (sometimes also with a layer of crispy nori seaweed to create the effect of fish skin), vegans can now enjoy “tofish” with their chips.
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They might sound like a guilt-free alternative or a gateway for the vegan-curious, but vegan fast food alternatives are often worse for your health than the meat equivalent.
“Obviously the pros are that [veganism] is getting people to think about plant-based foods, but the con is that it makes us think that it is good for you when it can be equally or more unhealthy,” says Megan Rossi, a dietician at King’s College London and author of Eat Yourself Healthy.
“Tofu contains omega 3 but it is a type that is not as active as animal sources,” says Rossi. Plant-based sources contain a type of omega 3 called alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). For our bodies to be able to do anything particularly useful with ALA, we need to convert it into eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). However, humans are not particularly well equipped to do this.
It is DHA that is responsible for the much-celebrated brain boosting properties of omega 3, while EPA has been linked to reduced symptoms of depression. Both are found in high quantities in fatty fish oils. There are some non-animal sources of useful EPA and DHA, like algae oil, that are available as supplements.
Meat-free menus
One alternative that seems to be on every menu during Veganury is jackfruit. The ripe fruit has a sweet taste, which hints at its close relation to the fig, but the unripe fruit is savoury and has a fleshy texture. This fleshiness makes it a convincing choice for pulled pork alternatives, curries and burgers.
The issue is jackfruit is quite nutritionally valueless if it’s protein you’re wanting. It is mostly made up of carbohydrates and contains almost no protein. As a replacement for meat, it is not the best choice.
Even other plant-based protein sources are of a lesser quality than animal protein sources, says dietician Rachel Clarkson. “Proteins are made up of amino acids which are the building blocks of every cell and hormone in our body. However, most plants do not contain good amounts of all essential amino acids.”
Plant-based protein sources usually lack at least one of the nine essential amino acids – the amino acids that the human body needs, but is unable to synthesise and so has to source from our diet. This means that vegans either need to carefully balance their proteins so that they complement each other, or supplement their diet from elsewhere. However, meat, egg and dairy products are considered “complete” because they contain all nine essential amino acids.
“If your protein diet is made up of lentils and beans, you would be getting some but not all of them,” says Clarkson. “Vegan burgers are often made up of beans, but this is not a complete source. One great product is soy because it is high in quality protein. That would be my go-to protein.”
Another discrepancy between the quality of animal- and plant-based foods is in their iron content. While plenty of plants, like whole grains, legumes and spinach are high in iron, once again, it is not always the best type. Animal sources contain haem iron, whereas plants contain non-haem iron. Non-haem is not as well absorbed by the body. Being iron deficient is a problem, particularly for women whose iron requirement for menstruation is higher.
In a meta-analysis of research of iron deficiency in vegetarians, vegans and omnivores, vegans (and in particular women) come out as the highest risk group. One study found that 25% of vegans had very low blood iron levels, compared to 3% of vegetarians and 0% of omnivores. Even more moderate iron deficiencies affect vegans more (30%, compared to 21% of vegetarians and 0% of omnivores).
“If you go long-term as a vegan, food pairing is going to be important,” says Rossi. Some foods contain chemicals whose properties improve absorption rates of chemicals in other foods. Adding vitamin C, for example, while eating a non-haem iron source improves our ability to absorb it. Rossi gives the example of using a tomato base, rich in vitamin C, when cooking with lentils.
One also needs to consider what is added to vegan fast food to make it as rewarding and fulfilling as meat equivalents. A vegan burger from KFC in the UK, for example, contains 2.91g of salt compared to 2.02g for their fillet burger or 1.97g for the Zinger burger. There is also more sugar and carbohydrates, and less protein in the vegan burger.
Salt is sometimes added to foods as a preservative, but there is also something fundamentally rewarding about salty food, says Clarkson. Salt is added to vegan fast foods to give the same meaty, rewarding sensation that would otherwise be missing. Issues arise, though, when you consider that some people are less able than others to process salt due to their genetics.
Genetic variations in a gene called ACE predispose around seven in 10 of us to increased blood pressure when salt intake is high. These people need to limit their daily salt intake to 4g (compared to the 6g recommended by the NHS in the UK) to help reduce their risk of high blood pressure, says Clarkson who is a specialist in nutrigenomic testing. A Greggs vegan sausage roll contains 1.9g of salt.
Read the full article here: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200129-why-vegan-junk-food-may-be-even-worse-for-your-health?utm_source=pocket-newtab
