Meat and plant-based meat analogs: Nutritional profile and in vitro digestion comparison

Plant-based meat analogs have received considerable attention as alternatives to genuine meat. In the current work, the nutritional profile and in vitro digestion characteristics of meat (beef, chicken, and pork) and four types of commercial plant-based meat analog products from companies, were investigated and compared. The protein level of meat was higher than 25 g/100 g, and the protein content of chosen plant-based meat analogs was between 14.1 g/100 g and 19.8 g/100 g. Plant-based meat analogs contained a certain amount of carbohydrates and dietary fiber, while they were not found in meat. The average sodium content of the chosen meat analogs was about 7.9 times higher than that of meat. Furthermore, plant-based meat analogs have lower cholesterol and higher polyunsaturated fatty acids. Compared to meat, plant-based meat analogs showed lower protein digestibility and released fewer bioactive peptides after in vitro digestion. These findings would provide significant information for the quality-directed regulation of plant-based meat analog products, and promote the development of plant-based food industry.