My dinner last night was an amazing salad with lots of greens and chopped vegetables,  almonds, quinoa, chickpeas, and strips of plant-based chicken. Plus a splash of red wine vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. It was super-satisfying and healthy. Yes, healthy even with the processed plant-based chicken.

There is a lot of fear around plant-based meats and their ingredient lists. It’s a fear that is exploited by the meat industry and by pro-meat wellness influencers. But even some advocates for a vegan diet suggest that these foods should be avoided – or at best, that they are valuable only as “transition foods.”

I disagree and so do many plant-based nutrition experts. A group of us recently published a paper to offer some perspective around these foods. Given their nutrient profiles and their practical appeal, we concluded that for most people, a daily serving of a plant-based meat fits well within the context of an overall healthy diet.

But the discomfort around these foods is understandable. Plant-based meat alternatives are labeled as ultra-processed food (UPF). This term entered the nutrition lexicon in 2009 when Brazilian scientists launched the Nova system for classifying foods. Nova categorizes foods based on the nature and extent of processing; it’s important to recognize that it doesn’t consider nutrient profile or health impacts of individual foods.

Notably, Nova’s list of UPFs includes a wide range of dissimilar foods – everything from Twinkies to veggie burgers. In one observational study of nearly 200,000 men and women, while total intake of UPFs was linked to greater risk for cardiovascular disease, the relationship was mostly due to consumption of sweetened beverages and processed meats. In fact, some categories of UPFs were associated with a lower risk for CVD.  The researchers said, “These data suggest that UPF are not a homogeneous entity concerning their nutritional quality and role in cardiovascular risk.”

Clearly different UPFs have different impacts on health. And the research suggests that plant-based meats don’t act like many other UPFs. A 2024 study looked at different types of UPFs and their relationship to telomere length in white blood cells. Telomeres are DNA sequences that serve as protective caps at the end of chromosomes. Factors that lead to shortened telomeres are thought to be associated with accelerated aging. In this study, plant-based UPFs like veggie burgers had a beneficial effect and were associated with longer telomere length while processed animal foods were associated with shorter telomeres.  

Likewise, while total UPF intake and processed meat consumption were both linked to risk for type 2 diabetes in one study, plant-based meat and milk alternatives – both are UPFs according to Nova—were associated with a more than 50% decreased risk. 

And in Stanford University’s SWAP-Meat study, subjects eating 2 ½ servings of plant-based meats per day had lower body weights and lower LDL-cholesterol compared to the group eating a combination of processed and unprocessed organic grass-fed meat.   

It’s true that plant-based meats lack some healthy attributes of other protein-rich foods like beans. But consumers are sadly resistant to eating beans. In fact, bean intake is fairly low even among vegans. Beans have so many wonderful attributes related to health, economics, and the environment and I do want to encourage people to eat them often. But we need more protein-rich choices than just beans, tofu, and peanut butter if we want to facilitate a global shift away from animal foods.

Unfortunately, we build barriers to plant-based diets if we promote fear around long ingredient lists, GMOs, and food processing. We build barriers  – and a sense of fear about these foods – when we suggest that veggie meats are appropriate only during a temporary transition to a plant-based diet. In contrast, giving people more choices is one way to remove obstacles and to position a vegan diet as a realistic option.  

If you’re interested in the role of these foods in plant-based diets, please take a look at our paper (it’s open access and free to read). There is a lot to celebrate when it comes to plant-based meats in terms of their protein content, their environmental benefits, their ease of preparation, and the way they let you cook up a platter of spaghetti and meatballs just like what your grandmother used to make. Meat alternatives make plant-based eating versatile and welcoming. We need them if we want to end the exploitation of farmed animals.