this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2026
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At what point do these ultra processed foods become worse for our health than meat though? I love impossible burgers, they taste impossibly delicious so much so that I'm suspicious it's really bad for me.
The Impossible burger isn’t trying to be healthier than beans and rice, but even as a processed food it’s healthier than a meat burger.
As reported in this study, the plant-based options had less fat and fewer calories. They would also have no cholesterol, which is only found in animals foods, and they may contain some fiber, which is only found in plant foods. A number of processed meats have been food to be carcinogenic while I don’t think any plant-based burgers have.
The book How Not To Die reviews scientific studies of food choices if you want a deeper dive.. finding animal-based protein is correlated with a range of diseases.
So no, I don’t expect veggie burgers will be less healthy than meat patties.
Dr Gregor has a good series on this, basically yes, these mock meats are not "healthy", but they are healthier than animal meat. On nutrition facts, search for "ultraprocessed".
Here is a good one about this:
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/do-the-health-impacts-of-ultra-processed-foods-apply-to-plant-based-meat-alternatives/?queryID=72e5918e6e7116a506973f670a82c4c6
It's definitely best to have homemade bean burgers. But even if impossible was on par in terms of saturated fat, heme iron and sodium, it would still be less pathogenic because it's not covered in fecal matter like actual beef is
I mean if you're comparing burgers to burgers, the "real" thing is already highly processed by definition, and even moreso for 99% of the burgers people have access to. It'd take quite a bit of processing for a bean or soy base to become more processed than ground beef.
Whether an impossible burger is worse for you than simple rice and beans might be another question.