The food composition database on plant-based meat analogues: nutritional analysis on healthy and unhealthy meal scenarios

Background: the growing awareness of the health and environmental benefits of plant-based diets has increased interest in plant-based meat analogues (PBMA), which are nowadays broadly available on the Italian market. Nevertheless, there is a lack of their complete composition data. The aim of the work is to present the newly developed food composition database on PBMA and apply it to 2 hypothetical meal scenarios. Methods: the food composition database was created from 255 commercial products whose label information was previously collected¹. It includes the mean energy and nutrient composition of 37 PBMA, grouped based on typology, main ingredients, and nutritional profile. Food composition was imputed using food label information combined with the standard recipe approach². A fast-food meal with burger and bacon, and a meal containing steak developed according to dietary guidelines³ were analysed for energy and nutrient content when meat products were replaced with 2 versions (low and high protein content) of PBMA counterparts. Results: regardless of meat or PBMA presence, all fast-food meals are higher in lipids and lower in fibre than the guideline-based meals. However, the fast-food meal with meat has higher energy (812 vs. 761 and 793 kcal), lipid (43 vs. 36 and 32% En) and β-carotene (155 vs. 645 and 198 μg), and lower fibre (4.7 vs. 12.4 and 11.0 g) than the fast-food meals with low and high protein PBMA, respectively. The composition of the guideline meal with steak is similar to the corresponding meal where steak was replaced with high protein PBMA (729 vs. 765 kcal; 22 vs. 23% En from proteins; 27 vs. 25% En from lipids; 3168 vs. 3189 μg of β-carotene). The meal where steak was replaced with low protein PBMA has lower energy (686 kcal) and protein (13% En), higher lipids (31% En) and β-carotene (4977 μg) than the steak meal. Conclusions: when PBMA are chosen as alternatives to meat, their nutritional composition needs to be considered. Therefore, the recommendation of reducing meat consumption and its substitution with plant-based foods may be misleading if not associated with adequate nutritional literacy. ¹Cutroneo et al. Front. Nutr. 2022,9:852831. ²Fiori et al. Nutrients 2022,14:4171. ³CREA. Linee Guida per una sana Alimentazione Italiana 2018.