Hacker News Reader

Comment by tptacek | Hacker News Reader

What's your concern about the nutritional content of Beyond Meat? Its macros are comparable to that of the product it replaces.

View on HN

They're still highly processed products.

We got used to vegetarian = healthy because for a while it meant grain, veggies and fruits. But today half of the vegetarian/vegan processed food is as bad as regular processed food.

I'll take an halloumi/spinach patty burger over a beyond meat burger every day

Why are processed foods automatically bad so long as the macronutrient / sodium profile is otherwise in line?

Because absorption and bioavailability are complex thing and even few missing micro can alter the nutritional value whole; processed and synthetic for trend to miss out on that fairly often

Not automatically, but macros aren't everything, a lot of additives they add to make up for nature's magic tricks are concerning (I don't know about beyond meat specifically, but for most processed food it is the case)

If all that mattered in nutrition were prots, fats, carbs and sodium it would be muuuuuuch easier but sadly it's infinitely more complex than that.

Isn't it high in saturated fat, cholesterol, and sugar?

It's not high in sugar. The macros are comparable to those of meat.

To replicate the mouthfeel of beef, you have to replicate all the negative qualities of the meat too. They are full of saturated fat.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com