Health-conscious vegans may face a trade-off between eating enough protein and avoiding highly processed foods.
The finding comes from a study of people in Brazil who ate a plant-based diet. They were more likely to consume recommended amounts of protein if they consumed more processed foods, such as plant-based sausages and burgers, often made from textured soya protein.
This suggests a potential conflict between two recent eating trends – veganism and concerns about highly processed foods.
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Highly processed food – often called ultra-processed food – includes most takeaways and ready meals, but can also feature things that are usually seen as fairly healthy, such as yoghurt, supermarket bread and pre-made soups and sauces. It is also sometimes taken to include anything made in a factory or with ingredients not usually found in a home kitchen, such as artificial additives.
Previous studies have suggested that , but it was unclear how this might relate to their protein consumption.
To learn more, at the University of São Paulo in Brazil and his colleagues analysed an existing dataset collected by asking nearly 800 vegans what they ate in the past 24 hours. Participants had also filled in some basic details about themselves, including their body weight.
The team found that about a quarter of the group were failing to eat recommended levels of protein, defined as 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. They were more likely to eat less protein if they consumed less ultra-processed food.
“Unrestricted advice to avoid ultra-processed food may have unintended consequences, such as protein intake inadequacies,” the researchers write.
One potential caveat with the study, however, is that when people fill out food questionnaires, they usually underestimate how much they eat, says at New York University.
For instance, in the study, the average calorie intake of the women was recorded as 1725 per day, while most tend to need about 2000 calories a day to maintain their weight. The average calorie intake for the men was recorded as 2200, compared with their recommended daily requirement of 2500.
“They’re under-reporting calories, so they’re probably under-reporting protein,” says Nestle.
medRxiv
