Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by abliefern 1246 days ago
That's a misunderstanding. Fake meat products don't contain "a ton of additives".
1 comments

Water, soy protein concentrate, coconut oil, sunflower oil, natural flavors, 2% or less of potato protein, methylcellulose, yeast extract, cultured dextrose, food starch modified, soy leghemoglobin, salt, mixed tocopherols (antioxidant), soy protein isolate, zinc gluconate, thiamine hydrochloride (vitamin B1), niacin, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), riboflavin (vitamin B2), and vitamin B12. This is the list of ingredients in an impossible burger. Just so it can somewhat (barely) mimic the taste and texture of actual meat, for what? Shoving myself full of GMO produce and preservatives? It's much more fulfilling and better for your own health to buy fresh produce, make your own umami rich, organic blends and eat them and not strive to mimic something it cannot be.
Almost all of those are protein and vitamins - good for you. Then there are some carbs. Not horrible.

Even sunflower oil gets a bad rap bc it's assoc w proc foods but it's fine just don't get it too hot or overconsume:

https://www.webmd.com/diet/sunflower-oil-good-for-you

Coconut oil's sat fat is highly contested and mixed. Very hard to untangle its effects but it seems to be nonlinear: A little seems okay.

Excess vitamins may in fact be bad for you in some situations. Studies using antioxidants A, C, and E found they can accelerate cancer growth.
Wouldn't most food accelerate cancer growth? Cancer needs nutrients to grow the same way normal cells do.
It fits the definition of ultraprocessed food since fats and proteins are modified (that's sort of the whole point, to create a new texture).

Which to me is the downside of a lot of the "replacement" foods. Industrial, processed food, that is pretty far away from whole foods. I'd prefer to just eat whole foods instead, vegetarian or not.

Do you have anything at all to back up the claim that modified proteins and fats as found in fake meat products are unhealthy? I can't find anything. This seems like superstition.
So you're claiming GMO is bad for your health? Wow. And preservatives? Can you point out the preservatives in the ingredient list? I can't see any. Except maybe salt...

Really not convinced at all.