Micronutrients & recovery
Novel plant-based meat alternatives should be treated as sensory meat alternatives but not as true nutritional replacements for animal meat due to differences in nutrient bioavailability and complex food matrix interactions.
If you are swapping animal meat for plant-based alternatives to improve health, recognize that you are gaining sensory satisfaction but may lose specific nutrient benefits. To maintain nutritional status, ensure your overall diet includes diverse plant sources to compensate for lower bioavailability of nutrients like B12, Iron, and Zinc, or consider supplementation if you are not consuming fortified products.
Novel plant-based meat alternatives should arguably be treated as meat alternatives in terms of sensory experience, but not as true meat replacements in terms of nutrition.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of existing literature regarding nutrient bioavailability and food matrix effects.
Source
Plant-Based Meats, Human Health, and Climate Change
Stephan van Vliet et al. · Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems · 2020
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