BIG VEGAN LIE? 'healthy' alternatives are loaded with salt and fat and lacking in calcium

[Anonymous No.20236025]

Researchers in Australia analyzed more than 700 plant-based foods
They found high levels of salt and saturated fat and low amounts of calcium

Plant-based diets are often seen as healthier alternatives to eating meat and dairy - with around one in five adopting the diet for health reasons.

The way of eating, which has risen in popularity by at least a third since 2017, can involve anything from ditching meat, to going fully vegan, without eggs, milk or cheese.

However, these foods could be loaded with sodium, which could raise blood pressure, packed with obesity-causing saturated fat, and stripped of bone-building calcium, a major analysis suggests.

Researchers evaluated more than 700 plant-based foods sold in supermarkets, including burgers, sausages, milk, cheese, and yogurt, as well as vegan staples lie beans and tofu.

They found that just half a cup of tofu contained 2,000 milligrams of sodium, nearly an entire day's worth, according to US guidelines.

Additionally, trendy coconut milks were loaded with saturated fat, more than six times that of other milk alternatives.

And over 90 percent of cheeses analyzed were not fortified with calcium, which is essential for growth and maintaining bone health.

'We found some products are so high in salt or saturated fat, we’d struggle to call them "healthy,"' the researchers wrote for The Conversation.

However, the study was performed in Australia - and nutritional content may vary slightly in the US, where roughly one in 100 people claim to be vegan.

In 2022, the team visited two of each of the four major supermarkets in Melbourne and collected nutrition info for plant-based meats, milks, cheeses, and yogurts.

In total, they looked at 704 products. These included 236 meat substitutes, 169 legumes, 50 baked beans, 157 non-dairy milks, 52 cheese substitutes, and 40 dairy-free yogurts.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wellness-us/nutrition/article-13118877/plant-based-food-nutrition-salt-fat.html

[Anonymous No.20236029]

Among the meat alternatives, the team noted that there were 'large variations in their nutrition content.'

Sodium, however, was the 'greatest concern.'

While some products had just one milligram per 100 grams (roughly one-half cup), others totaled 2,000 milligrams for the same serving size. This is equivalent to nearly two McDonald's Big Macs.

The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends consuming no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) in Australia's limit is 2,000.

'This means we could eat our entire daily recommended sodium intake in just one bowl of plant-based mince,' the researchers wrote.

They compared the findings to a 2019 audit of 66 plant-based meat products in Australia, which found that sodium got up to 1,200 milligrams per one-half cup.

'In other words, the results of our audit seems to show a consistent trend of plant-based meats getting saltier,' the team wrote.

They also looked at dairy-free cheese and yogurt. Just one-third of yogurt products showed calcium in the ingredient lists, and only 20 percent met Australia's recommended amount of 100 milligrams per 100 grams.

US health authorities recommend about 1,000 to 1,200 milligrams of calcium per day.

Additionally, the team found that the vast majority of plant-based cheese - 92 percent - were not fortified with calcium.

[Anonymous No.20236034]

Not getting enough calcium has been linked to several health issues, including brittle nails, slower hair growth, and thin skin.

It can also increase the risk of osteoporosis, brittle or weakened bones.

The dairy-free cheeses also had anywhere from 390 to 1,400 milligrams of sodium per serving.

Roughly a third of plant-based milks were not fortified with calcium.

But the researchers cautioned that coconut milk, which is often used in curries, sauces, and dressings, on average had six times more saturated fat than almond, oat, or soy milk.

Diets that are high in saturated fat have long been linked to long-term health issues like heart disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes.

This is not the first time that plant-based milks have come under fire by nutrition experts.

Last year, a major study by Stanford researchers presented at the American Society for Nutrition concluded that nine in 10 dairy-free milks of 233 on the market were 'nutritionally inferior' to cow's milk.

Particularly alarming were the scientists' findings regarding the quantity of sugar added to milk alternatives to improve taste.

Cow’s milk, in comparison, is naturally a bit sweet due to its naturally occurring sugars, lactose.

'About a third of the plant-based milk products have sugar or added sugar in quantities that’s more similar to a flavored milk like a strawberry or chocolate milk,' the researchers said.

[Anonymous No.20236038]

What's more, they found only 28 of the 233 beverages had as much or more protein, vitamin D and calcium as cow’s milk.

The new Australian study found that plant-based milks had about 100 milligrams less calcium than regular milk - the mineral that is essential for building and repairing bone tissue.

The plant milks were also found to contain only two grams of protein per cup. One cup of Trader Joe's reduced-fat milk has 14g of protein.

The Australian research team recommended vegans pick up beans and legumes rather than meat alternatives.

Additionally, they suggested adding herbs and spices to tofu rather than salt since it is already so highly salted.

The study was published Wednesday in the Journal of Food Composition and Analysis.

[Anonymous No.20236062]

please stop double spacing; this is not an english essay with a minimum page requirement

[Anonymous No.20236067]

>>20236062
This is the formatting for the dailymail I don't want to delete each line from the article, it is too much work anon.

[Anonymous No.20236083]

>>20236025
>>20236029
>>20236034
vegan here, I I'm not interested in the beyond meats or impossible burgers or other imitation foods. I'm a vegan, why would I eat foods that pretend to be meat, or other foods I don't like?

I like soymilk though, and nutritional yeast cashew cheese (home made) but the rest of my diet is fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, water, and some vitamins.

After avoiding "vegan alternative foods" for years I tried some vegan hotdogs, dumplings, mayo, and a few other things just for fun to see if I was missing out, and I was disgusted at how much salt, and how little flavor there was. I'm happy I avoided that, and will continue to avoid that. Lots of people make stupid choices, but not all vegans are stupid. Like you could eat a steak right next to me, I'm one of the cool ones.

[Anonymous No.20236085]

>>20236025
>I don't eat processed shit
>I take a calcium and magnesium supplement
problem?

[Anonymous No.20236086]

>>20236085
Not for you.

[Anonymous No.20236096]

>>20236025
>daily mail as a source
yeah no way lmao just propaganda from the meat industry

[Anonymous No.20236102]

>>20236096
sigh
https://theconversation.com/we-looked-at-700-plant-based-foods-to-see-how-healthy-they-really-are-heres-what-we-found-222991

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889157524000516#screen-reader-main-title

[Anonymous No.20236489]

>>20236025
>VEGAN LIE
Always has been. It's what they do.

[Anonymous No.20236862]

bump

[Anonymous No.20237160]

>>20236025
My ninja, you don't need that much calcium, you will just give yourself an iron deficiency.

[Anonymous No.20237213]

[Anonymous No.20237697]

My nibba..you should come to Italy.
Theres so much salt in meats, youll shit big chunks of it.
These paid plants can even make a proper psyop.

[Anonymous No.20237748]

>>20236067
Then it's too much work for me to read it.

[Anonymous No.20237863]

>>20237748
fair enough

[Anonymous No.20237953]

>reddit spacing faggot OP
Let's just ignore that rampant homosexuality for now
>daily fookin mail
lol, sure mate
> They found that just half a cup of tofu contained 2,000 milligrams of sodium, nearly an entire day's worth, according to US guidelines
Here's where I'm calling bullshit, no tofu on the planet has that much.
You are looking at 10mg per 100g, it's basically nothing.
I don't eat this fake meat shit and I don't recommend anyone else does because they are mostly chemical abominations but OP is fucking full of shit here.
Find me one block of raw tofu with 2% salt.

[Anonymous No.20238012]

>>20237953
see
>>20236102

[Anonymous No.20238033]

>>20236025
A plant based diet can be very healthy, the same way a mixed diet can be very healthy. But most people want just salt, fat and sugar so of course vegan options are going to mimic that. A diet of all Oreos is vegan, but it's of course insanely unhealthy.

[Anonymous No.20238449]

>>20236025
Most over salted products are meat and cheese, which literally have to be salted because they taste so bad of their own. 80% of the standard american diet's sodium content is from meat and dairy products

[Anonymous No.20238461]

>replacing meat and dairy with horrible amalgamations of various arcane plant extracts trying desperately to approximate the flavor and texture of those meat and dairy products results in foods that retain very little of the actual nutritional value of the various plants they were synthesized from, actually
>Turns out just eating some vegetables every once in a while, whether you choose to consume animal products or not, is much healthier

Oh wow, no way

[Anonymous No.20238477]

>>20237160
Most people don't need nearly as much calcium as they think they do, but children need a lot more than most people think they do if they want to be able to actually grow at a healthy modern standard, and there are very few if any ways to get and absorb calcium as efficiently as just consuming dairy regularly. Proponents of veganism very rarely address the fact that one of the biggest reasons that people in modern developed nations are so much taller and healthier on average today than they were pre-industrialization is because of the huge increase in animal product availability that coincided rapid industrialization.

[Anonymous No.20238783]

>>20236025
>saturated fat
>bad

[Anonymous No.20239042]

>>20238783
In high quantity it is. Water is also bad if you drink to much as it leaches vitamins and minerals.

[Anonymous No.20239094]

>>20236025
>obesity-causing saturated fat

[Anonymous No.20240410]

>>20238449
I would strangle you if I could

[Anonymous No.20240465]

>>20236025
>They found that just half a cup of tofu contained 2,000 milligrams of sodium
Maybe they should stop buying trash tofu?

[Anonymous No.20241203]

>>20236025
>>20236029
>>20236034
>>20236038
>>20236025
please bare with my autism, i'm gonna dismantle this stupid article to it's problematic parts

>Very sensationalist clickbaity title "big vegan lie" is what one would expect from a big tabloid article
damn bro, they been lying to us, psy-op conspiracy confirmed
>purposefully misrepresents the point of veganism, a political statement to animal rights, framed as another health-freak diet fad.
Therefore all vegan products for the uses of this article are made to seem like they only have the health aspect going for them, ignoring their ability to offer ethical alternatives to comforting and tasty animal foods people enjoy.
>"Very processed food is relatively unhealthy when compared to whole foods" be it plant or animal derived.
Gee, who knew! Also, the green-text above basically summarizes what the article is about without explicitly stating it.
>Too much fat/salt is bad (duh)
-"These doritos and those impossible sausages have large amounts of salt and fat"
-"These cheesy pringles and pork sausages also have large amounts of salt and fat"
But only one of those phrases comes as a surprise? Also maybe don't eat heavily processed foods that have the goal to be as tasty as possible to start with?
>Calcium is important (duh) and should be in vegan cheeses specifically
1.Vegan cheeses you find in supermarkets are not meant to be health foods, they're fat-constarch slurries made only for people who miss american cheese on their pizza and toast.
2.Bro your fortified milks? The vast majority of them have comparable calcium to cow's milk and much more.

[Anonymous No.20241216]

>>20241203
cont.

>Coconut has saturated fat
Yes? So does butter/heavy cream etc. but that doesn't mean there aren't tons of healthy alternatives for vegans, likewise an omni eater is not bound to eat blocks of butter.
>half a cup of tofu contained 2,000 miligrams of sodium
Doubtful there is a tofu like that out in the market. Most likely a falsehood created by incorporating the salty brine solution that tofu usually comes in, in the nutrition data.
>lots of plant milks have lower nutrional value when compared to cow's milk
agreed, most nut milks in markets are inadequate. Stick with soy or extra protein ones for comparable nutritional value.
>lots of plant milks have added sugar
there's plently with zero sugar, also without sugar alternatives. Usually cartons come with a bold UNSWEETENED label so not even retards can miss it.
>tidbits/health advice consists mainly of fear-mongering by mentioning various pathologies, and only come up only when talking about heavily processed vegan food stuff
>initial research goal was to examine ALL plant-based foods, including various whole vegetables and legumes, foods that are known to promote heart and general health, yet that somehow doesn't deserve a mention
>majority of article is still only focused on the heavily processed food items that do not take a big part to a typical daily nutrional intake for most (non-american) people
intellectuall dishonest at the very least

[Anonymous No.20241884]

>>20241216
>Doubtful there is a tofu like that out in the market.
Smoked tofu? Of course portraying processed tofu as plain tofu is dishonest.