"Vegetarian" Burger Impossibly Unhealthy?

Healthy or impossibly unhealthy?

You've probably seen the fast food commercials of customers tricked into eating a "veggie" burger made by the Impossible Foods company. The samplers are amazed at how meaty it tastes and can't believe it's actually "vegetarian" when it "bleeds" like a real burger.

The Impossible burger is showing up as an option at more and more of the largest fast food chains as these companies try to cash in on providing a "vegetarian" option that appears to be a healthy alternative to beef and friendly to the environment. Don't believe the hype. It's not what you think it is.

While the fast food giants promote this as a healthy plant-based option compared to meat, the company that makes the burger avoids making specific health claims, and no studies have been performed to show a positive effect on health with this product. There aren't even studies to prove that the genetically engineered ingredients have no effect on humans. But aren't vegetables healthy? Sure, but this is no patty of vegetables being served.

What's in the Impossible burger sold at fast food chains?

The meaty taste and "bleeding" of the burger may be an impressive innovation, but that innovation comes from a constituent of soy call leghemoglobin that has been produced by genetically engineered yeast. Combine that with other heavily processed ingredients like soy protein concentrate, soy protein isolate, modified food starch, methylcellulose, potato protein, yeast extract, cultured dextrose, natural flavors, sunflower oil and more, and you've got a recipe for health right? Probably not.

We're not big fans of most "veggie" burgers due to their highly processed nature, and the Impossible burger goes a step further to being an ultra-processed food product. It is a good idea to avoid the factory farmed burgers sold by most restaurants, but that doesn't mean we can't find a better option than a factory produced "veggie" burger. 

There are two better options for your health (and the environment). If you want a veggie burger, find one without all of the processed junk and that is actually made out of vegetables (or make one yourself). Or choose naturally pastured-raised or grassfed beef for your burger. If someone tells you their processed food product is healthier than real food, they better have some amazing studies to prove that a century of nutrition research is wrong. While they work on those, go eat the real stuff.

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