[PJMedia] At some point recently, "plant-based meat alternatives" (PBMAs) — AKA "lab slop pseudo-meat" — became the marketing term du jour. It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, but making techno-slop sound appealing is a tall task even for the slickest silver-tongued PR prodigy.It turns out PBMAs might not be the miracle breakthrough that’s going to wean the useless eaters off of their meat habit and improve their health simultaneously that Bill Gates promised it would be.
Quite the opposite, in fact, it seems.
Plant-Based Meat Alternatives (PBMAs), a common choice among vegetarians, are classified as ultra-processed foods and may carry similar risks.
A groundbreaking study published in Food Frontiers by researchers from the University of Surrey found that vegetarians who consumed PBMAs faced a 42% higher risk of depression compared to vegetarians who avoided these products.
The study, which was led by Hana Navratilova, analyzed data from the UK Biobank and found no notable differences in intake of sodium, free sugar, total sugar, or saturated fatty acids between those vegetarians who ate PBMAs and those who did not. The researchers did find, however, that those who eat PBMAs had higher blood pressure and C-reactive protein* (CRP) levels, a marker of inflammation, and lower levels of apolipoprotein A, a protein associated with HDL, a "good" cholesterol; PBMA consumption was, however, also linked to a reduced risk of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) by 40%.
CRP levels were higher in PBMA consumers. PBMAs often contain different nutrient profiles compared to traditional meat, including higher levels of certain additives, preservatives, or processed ingredients that might contribute to inflammation. This finding is consistent with a previous study using the same cohort, where higher UPF [ultra-processed food] intake was associated with higher odds of elevated inflammatory biomarkers such as CRP...
It is hypothesized that UPFs can increase inflammatory factors (IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β), which eventually affect CRP levels.
*C-reactive protein levels are the single most telling biomarker of systemic inflammation, and as such are the single most important biomarker for chronic disease risk associated with inflammation — which is virtually all chronic diseases. So it’s not "a marker of inflammation," as ScitTechDaily describes it, it’s the marker of inflammation.
Here is my shocked face :|