Are ultra-processed plant-based meats better than the alternative?

Studies link high consumption of ultra-processed foods to increased risks of a variety of adverse health outcomes, including all-cause mortality. However, these associations appear to be driven largely by sweetened beverages and processed meats, raising the possibility that plant-based meats (PBM) could ironically offer a solution to the ultra-processed foods problem. Unlike other ultra-processed foods, PBM rated as healthier than the foods they are intended to substitute and similarly countervail other negative criteria typical of ultra-processed products. Compared with PBM, conventional meat has the inferior nutrient profile, higher calorie density, and more missing phytonutrients, and results in less satiety and more weight gain, gut dysbiosis, and oxidative stress. With PBM, insulin resistance and inflammation outcomes are similar or superior to meat, depending on the PBM tested, and heat-induced toxins and harmful additives depend on the chemicals in question. Other advantages of PBM include lower potential cancer risk and enhanced food safety. The lowering of LDL cholesterol from the partial replacement of meat with PBM could alone potentially save thousands of lives a year in the United States and billions of healthcare dollars. Whole plant foods fare even better, but PBM appear to be the rare ultra-processed exception in that they are preferable to the foods they were designed to replace.