Nutrition and Health Aspects of Meat Analogs
摘要
This chapter covers a comprehensive discussion on nutrition and health aspects of meat analogs which consist the trend of consuming plant-based meat analogs (PBMAs); nutritional composition; protein quality which emphasises on its critical component for examining the digestion and gastrointestinal destiny; product’s health implications; Nutri-Score and food-based (NOVA) classification of meat analogs; strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis related to PBMAs and future perspectives of meal analogs. In comparison to meat products, PBMA diets necessitate far less water and land, while generating less greenhouse gases. Compared to real meat, PBMAs had higher levels of total carbohydrates, sugars and fibres, and while exhibiting lower calorie counts and reduced total and saturated fat content, PBMAs released less peptides during in vivo digestion while enhancing the presence of both host- and microbial-derived peptides. Intermittent replacement of meat with PBMAs may enhance gastrointestinal microbiome owing to prebiotic constituents such as β-glucans. PBMA is a good source of dietary fibre, has lower contents of total and saturated fats, has no cholesterol and is a source of vitamin C, phytosterols and some antioxidant. As conclusion, PBMAs must be meticulously formulated with thorough attention to composition and processing to ensure that customers transitioning to plant-based diets can achieve the anticipated health benefits.