The vegan, or plant-based, burger often promises protein comparable to animal-based, but the way protein is expressed on today's nutrition labels—a single generic value expressed in grams—can be misleading.
That's because the human body doesn't use "protein" itself. Instead, essential amino acids are needed, which are present in protein, but the concentration and digestibility of amino acids are different between protein sources.
To account for these differences, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations developed a new standard for protein quality: the Digestible Essential Amino Acid Score. It focuses specifically on the digestibility of essential amino acids and aims to provide nutritionists with more precise tools. A new study from the University of Illinois and Colorado State University uses this system to understand the protein quality in beef and pork burgers, as well as vegan burgers from Impossible and Beyond Meat.
Animal proteins provide more amino acids
Hamburgers are typically eaten with a bun, so researchers also analyzed the protein quality of the hamburgers and buns together. Because grain-based products, such as hamburger buns, offer low-quality protein, they reduced the DIAAS values.
The researchers fed the pigs pork burgers, 80% and 93% lean beef burgers, soy-based Impossible Burger and pea-based Beyond Burger. They then measured the digestibility of the individual essential amino acids and used those digestibility scores to calculate the DIAAS values.
Both the beef and pork burgers , served without a bun, were rated as "excellent" sources of protein (scoring 100+). The Impossible Burger, when served without a bun, was also rated as an excellent source of protein for children 3 years and older, but not for children under 3. With a score of 83, the Beyond Burger without the bun was a "good" source of protein for children 3 years and older.
Consuming the Impossible Burger together with a bun reduced the DIAAS value to "good" (for ages 3+). But when breaded 80% lean pork or beef was eaten along with breads, the DIAAS values were still 100 or higher for the 3+ age group, demonstrating that these combinations met the needs of all children. essential amino acids.
More amount of vegan burger is needed
This means we would need to eat 15% more of the vegan burger and bun combination to obtain the same amount of digestible amino acids, compared to eating pork or beef burgers. Therefore, if we have to eat more, we will also consume more calories.
Children, adolescents, breastfeeding women, and the elderly are at risk of not obtaining enough amino acids. The results of this experiment, along with previous data, demonstrate the importance of incorporating animal protein into diets to provide sufficient amounts of digestible essential amino acids for these population groups.
This is also very important in developing countries where there may be limited access to animal protein , especially for children. In some countries, most children are deficient in essential amino acids. This is extremely serious because if children don't get enough amino acids, their brain development can suffer.