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Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

arstechnica.com

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Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#81

Post by gorilla_fight »

alrs wrote: post #22

Make a zero-carbohydrate meat substitute, and I'm interested. Otherwise, no.

> Make a zero-carbohydrate meat substitute, and I'm interested. Otherwise, no.

This is a good point, one reason many people (including me) have been eating more meat lately is to reduce their carbohydrate consumption after research has found many of the negative effects of a high-carbohydrate diet.

The Impossible Burger's complete ingredient list, from their website:

Water, Textured Wheat Protein, Coconut Oil, Potato Protein, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Leghemoglobin (Soy), Yeast Extract, Salt, Konjac Gum, Xanthan Gum, Soy Protein Isolate, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, Thiamin (Vitamin B1), Zinc, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12 Contains: Soy, Wheat

The very first ingredient besides water is "wheat", a grain known for numerous side effects, one of the only foods with its own disease (celic disease, gluten sensitivity), high levels of anti-nutrients (phytic acid, inhibiting mineral absorption). Granted, it is the "protein" part of wheat, but from the nutritional facts on the Impossible Burger's zendesk support site we can see it has 5 grams total carbohydrate, total sugars Five grams may not sound like much, but it all adds up. The general recommendation for inducing ketosis if you're into that is less than 20 grams (ignoring the recent "Dietary carbohydrate intake and mortality: a prospective cohort study" study which scandalously considered 200 grams "low carb"). A hamburger bun has about 23 grams, so eating one of these burger patties in a hamburger with a bun and/or other condiments will easily kick one out of the low-carbohydrate diet classification, if that's one's goal.

For comparison, on a personal note, today I've eaten zero carbs at least by my measurements (supposedly real meat has "some" carbs, but I haven't found any measurable quantity anywhere, data sources commonly list it as 0g - but would be interested in more precise data if anyone has it). Not an untypical day for me. 0% carbs, 60% fat, 40% protein (this high protein:fat ratio is unusual for me, due to the lean meat I unfortunately was stuck with this time, but I usually strive to eat much higher fat content. Always lowering the carbohydrates.) As primarily a meat-eater, or at least an eater of animal products, it is much easier to strive for the low-carbohydrate way of eating.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#82

Post by c3534l »

melq wrote: post #38

I know this is a stupid thing to get upset about, but it annoys me SO MUCH that they refer to it as something that 'bleeds'. Real burgers don't bleed! Nor do steaks, or any other cut of beef you might purchase at the grocery. The red, translucent juices that come out of a burger or steak are red for the same reason the meat itself is red: myoglobin. Not blood.

I think as a non-medical term "blood" is potentially broad enough to cover both hemo- and myo-globin. It's not like when our ancestors in ancient antiquity used the word they had any clue about what the underlying biology, they only know what they saw and experienced.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#83

Post by maxxxxx »

gorilla_fight wrote: post #68
jlawson wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The goal isn't just to have a "veggie burger bleed", it's to replicate the experience of eating meat. Perhaps they have failed so far (according to your taste test), but the goal is valid. If someone can find a way to make a product near-indistinguishable from meat without raising and killing animals, it would be a massive victory for the environment (meat production is CO2-intensive), for the cause of bringing decen…

> If someone can find a way to make a product near-indistinguishable from meat without raising and killing animals, it would be a massive victory for the environment (meat production is CO2-intensive), for the cause of bringing decent food to poor people, and for reducing animal suffering. I'm all for reducing animal suffering (especially from CAFOs) but replacing meat with plants isn't necessarily a victory for the…

" I have to believe that the political vegetarians haven’t thought it through."

Most farm animals don't live on green pastures but get their food from the big monocultures you are writing about. It would be much more efficient to eat the plants straight instead of feeding them to animals to get their meat.

Either you haven't thought your points through or the facts you are working with are wrong.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#84

Post by cm2012 »

askaboutit wrote: post #51

I wouldn’t trust anything the FDA approves after watching the Netflix series on how it is simply a big Pharma publishing house now. It’s so reliant on company money that it can’t do its duty to protect the people it is supposed to protect.

Documentaries are an awful way to learn facts. By their nature, they're going to push interesting and provacative narratives over the truth.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#85

Post by [deleted] »

drb91 wrote: post #54
spuz wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's true, but when you are talking about meat, it's usually safe to assume 'bleed' means to 'bleed blood'.

When people refer to a “bloody steak”, they aren’t implying the red liquid is actually blood.

[deleted]

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#86

Post by melq »

c3534l wrote: post #82
melq wrote: post #38

I know this is a stupid thing to get upset about, but it annoys me SO MUCH that they refer to it as something that 'bleeds'. Real burgers don't bleed! Nor do steaks, or any other cut of beef you might purchase at the grocery. The red, translucent juices that come out of a burger or steak are red for the same reason the meat itself is red: myoglobin. Not blood.

I think as a non-medical term "blood" is potentially broad enough to cover both hemo- and myo-globin. It's not like when our ancestors in ancient antiquity used the word they had any clue about what the underlying biology, they only know what they saw and experienced.

I don't think it's controversial to presume that most people understand blood to be the opaque, dark red, viscous liquid that is pumped through the circulatory system.

That fluid is very different from the thin, watery, red-tinged, translucent liquid that might be found in muscle tissue.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#87

Post by DoreenMichele »

melq wrote: post #86
c3534l wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think as a non-medical term "blood" is potentially broad enough to cover both hemo- and myo-globin. It's not like when our ancestors in ancient antiquity used the word they had any clue about what the underlying biology, they only know what they saw and experienced.

I don't think it's controversial to presume that most people understand blood to be the opaque, dark red, viscous liquid that is pumped through the circulatory system. That fluid is very different from the thin, watery, red-tinged, translucent liquid that might be found in muscle tissue.

Actually, the stuff found in muscle is called either interstitial fluid or lymph. It is exactly the same thing as blood, minus the blood cells. It comes from the blood and is eventually returned back to the blood.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#88

Post by ppseafield »

gorilla_fight wrote: post #73
fcarraldo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think Buddhists would disagree that humanity has survived solely as carnivores for thousands of years. Plenty of other cultures have existed on solely vegetarian/vegan diets as well, throughout history. Peasants within meat-eating cultures also did not always have frequent access to meat, and thus ate primarily vegetarian, or perhaps pescatarian. The idea that humans have always eaten meat and that it’s an essentia…

What are these cultures which existed solely on vegan diets? Honest question, I searched but couldn't find the answer, there was a response on Quora which mentioned some Buddhists are vegan by default, and some Hindus and Essene Christians are vegetarian, but she "wasn't aware of any 100% vegan cultures." I can understand vegetarian cultures surviving, since they can acquire essential nutrients through the animal pro…

You used to be able to acquire B12 from crops because some of the natural bacteria flora contained the cyanobacteria that make it. Modern farming's use of industrial pesticides means we can't use that as a source anymore.

The Jain's diet is largely plant-based. It allows for dairy, but only in the case that the cows aren't hurt as part of the process.

http://www.jainfoodie.com/jain-food-restrictions/

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#89

Post by DoreenMichele »

clankfan wrote: post #15

I've had several impossible burgers and they completely live up to the hype. They taste very good indeed. But I have noticed a slight uptick in anxiety after eating them, maybe 30 mins after or so. This anxiety comes out of the blue, the first few burgers I had, I had zero health or safety thoughts in my mind that might have precipitated the anxiety. Interested if anyone else has had a similar experience.

I googled the ingredients. It contains coconut oil, which is thyroid support. If it contains a lot of coconut oil and you don't normally consume such, that might explain it.

Re: Impossible Burgers’ key, bloody ingredient gets long awaited nod from FDA

#90

Post by 420basteit »

askaboutit wrote: post #52
clankfan wrote: post #15

I've had several impossible burgers and they completely live up to the hype. They taste very good indeed. But I have noticed a slight uptick in anxiety after eating them, maybe 30 mins after or so. This anxiety comes out of the blue, the first few burgers I had, I had zero health or safety thoughts in my mind that might have precipitated the anxiety. Interested if anyone else has had a similar experience.

The problem with trying to replace meat. Is the unknowns about why we survived as carnivores for thousands upon thousands of years and our current obsession to suddenly play god with a food supply. We don’t know what we don’t know. And impossible doesn’t know why there would be side effects. Or they do and you’ll not know. Buy grass fed organic meat and eat less of it. We already eat too much.

Grass fed organic meat will solve all of our problems right?

Except for the fact that it is too expensive for most to afford, meaning only the upper class can eat the stuff and feel good about it; also it produces much more methane per pound of meat than the corn-fed and hormone-injected equivalent; and finally it requires MUCH more space -- space that could be used for more sustainable agriculture like soy farms or chicken factories.

Environmentally and economically it seems like America should be engineering it's meat. Ethically, this is a different story, especially with the torturing of animals that often accompanies this meat engineering process.

The reason that I personally stand behind the development of meat alternatives like the impossible, and cultured meat, is that these are attempts to continue increasing the environmental and economic viability of meat while simultneously eliminating the ethical issues completely.

Yes the alternative meat field is young and not effective right now, but that's no reason to abandon all hope that cheap sustainable meat-like sustenance is possible. Impossible should be lauded and encouraged to improve their product. Their very name is a clue that what they are trying to do is not easy, but I think if successful, it could pay off big for society.

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