The great debate: Are vegan or veggie burgers really better for you?
With vegetarianism and veganism on the rise, more and more people are snubbing the traditional meat patty between our bun. But…
More and more people are cutting down on meat in the UK. Last year alone, an estimated 500,000 Brits became vegetarians, while a quarter said they’d moved to a vegan diet, or intended to.
One of the main reasons behind the change – apart from for the environment – tends to be for the health benefits. Red meat, for example, has been linked repeatedly to bowel cancer, type two diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
But while sales of red meat are decreasing year-on-year, our love of burgers still remains steady – during lockdown, they were the most popular takeaway. But nowadays, that doesn’t
always mean a ‘beef’ burger.
Meat-free, or plant-based, burgers are booming, even in fast food restaurants.
But are they really better for you?
Gloria Hunniford looked into this exact question in a recent episode of Morning Live – and the results were surprising.
While the fat content in Burger King’s Plant Based Whopper had 10g less fat than the traditional Whopper, as you might expect, the KFC meat and meat-free burgers had roughly the same amount of fat – and the Nando’s Great Imitator had double the fat of its chicken counterpart.
And all of the meat-free substitutes had more sugar and salt than the original meat dish.
That’s certainly food for thought…
Is it really that surprising? For a start, not all veggie burgers actually contain vegetables. And while some can be a good source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, there’s often a host of unsavoury ingredients in your patty too.
‘ When you look at the ingredients list of some of these, it’s like reading the contents of a chemistry set,’ said nutritionist Dale Pinnock on the show.
‘They are very heavily processed and from a nutritional point of view, I wouldn’t view them as being healthy. They tend to have a lot more additives, often a lot more of the bad stuff to make them taste palatable, to give it the same culinary experience. A lot of people are turning towards a plant-based diet for the health benefits, I don’t think it ticks those boxes.’
This was something Danielle Wilson, 35, from Norfolk, found out when she first turned vegetarian in 2009.
‘Despite being really fit and active over those first few months, I managed to slowly put on about 1st 7lbs,’ she says. ‘A vegetarian sausage seems so much healthier than a regular one, so I’d go out drinking more or treat myself all the time. I used to eat lots of processed veggie alternatives like fake chicken.
‘It was only when I started getting severe dietary issues that I visited a nutritionist and she discovered I was getting hardly any protein in my diet and I had vitamin B12 and calcium deficiency.’
Now Danielle has overhauled her diet, she’s happier and healthier.
‘I’m still vegetarian but I get extra protein from supplements and have calcium and B12 three times a week. I also make sure I have enough beans and pulses in my diet – and I have a daily shot of anything fermented to keep my gut happy. I’ve lost the weight and I feel the best I’ve felt for a long time.’
Naturopath and nutritionist Dr Enid Taylor ND at the Taymount Clinic agrees not all alternatives are better for us.
‘Just because something is vegan doesn’t automatically make it healthy,’ says Dr Taylor. ‘Chips and white bread can be vegan and are still not healthy foods.’
It’s also worth remembering that it’s not just veggie burgers’ fat, salt and sugar that’s a problem, it’s all the other extra ingredients used to make them tasty and ‘meat-like’ that can
‘Chips can be vegan but they’re not healthy’
be bad for our health.
‘Any over-processed food comes with preservatives and stabilisers because they need to be prevented from going off and made to stay on the shelf longer,’ says Dr Taylor. ‘Many such ingredients are not easy for the body to break down, they are not found naturally in nature and we often don’t have the enzymes to digest them. This leads to a toxic load that the body has to deal with.’
Am Golhar, 36, a creative entrepreneur, who has been vegetarian on and off for the past 17 years, and chooses not to eat meat, agrees…
‘I didn’t realise at the time, but when I changed my lifestyle, I wasn’t eating enough protein and I had no idea of the nutritional value of foods – which is how much fat, carbs or protein they had in them. Now I’m much more educated and I appreciate the different types of vegetarian protein available. My energy levels have increased and I’m less tired. It’s definitely down to understanding nutrition much better.’
Vegetarian options can be healthy, you just need to know what you’re looking for.
Perhaps try to choose organic products that don’t have a long list of chemical names – if you wouldn’t have the ingredients in your kitchen, chances are they shouldn’t be in your food.
So, should you still cut down on your meat consumption? ‘Every vegan burger is one less burger made from meat, and if you are an animal lover or a planet-lover, it has to be better for the environment,’ says Dr Taylor. ‘The good ones are out there, you just need to be discerning, picky and read the labels. The charity Food Matters last year identified Beyond Burgers and Meatless Farm as two great brands that taste really good and have good ingredient profiles.’
And don’t forget, there’s always the option of making tasty veggie burgers yourself. Here’s how…