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Vegetable meat is absorbed by cells worse than the real one
Anastasia Gorshkova, PCR.news
From high-protein plants, for example, from soy, alternative meat is produced, which tastes and looks like the present. But, as scientists from the United States found out, the proteins of the vegetable meat substitute are worse broken down into peptides and are less actively consumed by cell culture.
Despite the increasing popularity of vegetable meat analogues, it is still unclear whether vegetable proteins are capable of providing all the needs of the body. Scientists from the USA compared the properties of vegetable and chicken meat and showed that peptides obtained from the former are worse absorbed by human cells.
It is believed that vegetable analogues are healthier than animal meat, because plants contain little saturated fat, and modern technologies allow you to create vegetable meat indistinguishable from the present. The authors of the new work obtained a model vegetable meat by extrusion of soy and wheat proteins at high humidity and compared it with chicken breast meat. According to the physico-chemical properties, the pieces of vegetable meat differed from the real one. There were also long fibers inside them, but they were tougher and less structured. Scientists have noted that such differences can greatly disrupt the processes of protein digestion and assimilation. To test this assumption, they crushed pieces of vegetable and chicken meat and incubated them in a solution with the addition of amylases and lipases, simulating the digestive process. It turned out that the peptides obtained after incubation from meat substitutes are larger and dissolve worse in water.
The scientists then tested how the peptides interact with cells in vitro. They selected the human colorectal carcinoma cell line Caco-2, which is widely used to evaluate the transport and uptake of peptides. Lysates of vegetable and real meat did not demonstrate cytotoxicity and did not induce an inflammatory reaction. Peptides of vegetable meat had a higher molecular weight and greater hydrophobicity, therefore they penetrated cells less effectively. In addition, they contained fewer interchangeable and essential amino acids. All this may indicate their insufficient nutritional value.
According to liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry, peptides in artificial meat and chicken breast lysates contained on average 7-30 and 7-20 amino acid residues, respectively. After being absorbed by the cells, they continued to split. The exact mechanism of transport of plant and chicken meat peptides into the cell is unknown and, according to the authors, requires further research.
The team's next step will be to search for additional ingredients that will increase the efficiency of absorption of peptides from vegetable meat.
Article by Chen et al. Characterization and Cellular Uptake of Peptides Derived from In Vitro Digestion of Meat Analogues Produced by a Sustainable Extrusion Process is published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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