If you work in food and nutrition, you’ve surely noticed the explosion in meat and dairy alternatives that are being developed and marketed everywhere in Canada. Even in beef-farming Alberta, I’ve seen huge billboards advertising half-beef, half-lentil burgers. When I first started sampling these foods in Calgary about 15 years ago, this was completely unimaginable. From a climate change perspective, the rapid growth in options for meat alternatives is a huge win, but over the past year or two, we’ve seen confusion and debate over how to think about these foods. Can they really replace meat and dairy? Can we still get everything we need from these new foods? Should we think of them as ultra-processed foods that are simply not comparable to the “real thing”? Should we continue focusing on tofu, chickpeas, and lentils as the best alternatives to meat? This discussion is well worth thinking about in dietetics and for the general public.
While we don’t have definitive answers yet, at Drawdown Dietetics we’re committed to looking at the data and evidence before making any recommendations or forming any conclusions. To start thinking about the nutrition pros and cons of this food category, we decided to collect nutrition information about the currently available plant-based options in Canada. Our wonderful volunteer, Natalie Nguyen, worked very hard to build a database of these products, one that we think will be extremely useful for dietitians offering guidance or simply trying to come to their own conclusions about this category. We haven’t investigated new food technologies like cell-cultured meat, but will do so if and when it becomes more widely available. We also recognize that this post has a “nutritionism” angle, in that it looks at individual nutrients only. But we think it’s a good place to start, especially for anyone looking to substitute one food for another.
We asked Natalie to identify the top three plant-based burgers, and to write up some of her findings. Here they are now!
Natalie:
Working on this database has been a new and eye-opening experience. As a vegetarian myself, I was generally aware of some of the existing brands and offerings, but I was really surprised at just how many plant-based options are now available. I’m sure this database will forever be a work in progress, as new items are constantly added to the market, and others are discontinued. Additionally, the database includes only items I was able to find online, so any products that are found in-store exclusively are not on the list yet. Plant-based burgers was the first category I consolidated, so it’s the most comprehensive at this time.
As I was assessing the list to identify the top three burgers (from a nutrition perspective), it was unsurprising that the options with the lowest saturated fat and sodium had no overlap with the options with the most protein and vitamin B12. The burger options that were truly vegetable burgers had low saturated fat, low sodium, and high fibre. Burgers that had the highest saturated fat content were comparable to a regular ground beef patty–Gardein’s Supreme Plant-Based Burger contains 9g of saturated fat per patty, and a regular ground beef patty contains 8g. This trend was also seen with total fat, where the burger that contained the most total fat was the Beyond Meat burger at 18-19g, similar to the 19g that a regular beef burger contains. Across the board, all options contained less cholesterol than their beef counterpart.
I was surprised to see that all options also contained fewer calories: plant-based burgers from Beyond Meat and TMRW have 270 calories, while a beef burger has 297 calories. I expected that all options would have more carbohydrates compared to a ground beef burger (which contains 0g of carbs), as plant-based protein sources also contain carbs. No one eats a burger for fibre and calcium, but due to the plant sources that the plant-based burgers contain (along with fortification), almost all options had more fibre and calcium than a regular beef burger. Another interesting finding was that all of the top burgers based on nutrition contained more sodium than a regular beef patty. All of the top burgers had at least 300mg of sodium, while a beef burger contains 86mg (although this varies widely).
After reviewing the nutrition profiles of the top 10 burgers for protein, vitamin B12, and iron, I have concluded that the best plant-based burgers are:
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Plant-based Beefless Undeniable burgers by President’s Choice
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Plant-based burgers by Beyond Meat
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Plant-based burgers by Lightlife & the Supreme Plant-Based Burger from Gardein
I ended up choosing 4 burgers for the top 3, because the Lightlife and Gardein burgers were pretty evenly matched–where one ranked higher in one category, the other would rank higher in another category. Overall nutrition is difficult to assess, because there are usually trade-offs for different nutrients. For example, the meatless burgers by President’s Choice were a contender as they ranked well for protein, vitamin B12, iron, and saturated fat, but the sodium content was the highest of the other choices in the top 10, at 640mg of sodium per patty.
Honourable mentions go out to the CHEEZMADE Chicken-less Burger by Tre Stelle and plant-based fishless burgers by Good Catch. These would be the best plant-based options for chicken and fish burgers, respectively. (Note: Tre Stelle’s CHEEZMADE Chicken-less Burger contains paneer and is therefore not vegan.)
One other caveat of the top three burger options, and for the database overall, is that the choices were made purely on the basis of nutrition. Even though I’m interested in trying these burgers, I have no idea how they compare in terms of taste and texture. These plant-based options also cost more than their meat-based counterparts. This isn’t to discourage eating more climate-friendly, but to set realistic expectations about deciding factors in purchasing food. With all that said, this was an informative experience, and I’m excited to see what other climate-friendly alternatives are out there!
Thanks for your work on this Natalie, and for making the hard calls when picking the top three plant-based burgers! We’ll keep working to make our database available on our website, so stay tuned for the full reveal!
What are your thoughts on meatless meat? Have a favourite brand or flavour? Let us know!
Anneke and Renita