A review of research on plant-based meat alternatives: Driving forces, history, manufacturing, and consumer attitudes.

The topic of plant-based meat alternatives (PBMAs) has been discussed for several decades, but it has only recently become one of the hottest topics in the food and research communities. With the purpose of investigating the current situation of scientific research on PBMA and determining future research opportunities, the driving forces for PBMA development, a brief history of its progression, key technologies required for production, and the resulting consumer attitudes are summarized. Environmental, human health, and animal welfare concerns are the main factors that have driven the development of PBMA. Although its history can trace back to ancient Asian civilizations, the first generation of PBMA originated in 1960s and a new generation of PBMA designed for carnivore was developed in recently years. Structuring methods such as extrusion and shear cell techniques have been widely studied, but improvements toward the overall appearance and flavor, biological and chemical safety control, as well as the selection of protein sources are also very important for PBMA production. The consumer acceptance of PBMA remains unsatisfactory but is continually improving. Based on those knowledge, future research opportunities include developing more effective strategies for consumer education, providing more scientific evidence for the health properties of PBMA, finding more suitable protein sources to improve the quality of the final products, improving the appearance and flavor, further examining and securing the chemical safety, exploring the structure formation mechanism during the extraction or shearing processes, and developing methods and standards for a quality evaluation of PBMA.

Nutritionally recommended food for semi- to strict vegetarian diets based on large-scale nutrient composition data.

Diet design for vegetarian health is challenging due to the limited food repertoire of vegetarians. This challenge can be partially overcome by quantitative, data-driven approaches that utilise massive nutritional information collected for many different foods. Based on large-scale data of foods' nutrient compositions, the recent concept of nutritional fitness helps quantify a nutrient balance within each food with regard to satisfying daily nutritional requirements. Nutritional fitness offers prioritisation of recommended foods using the foods' occurrence in nutritionally adequate food combinations. Here, we systematically identify nutritionally recommendable foods for semi- to strict vegetarian diets through the computation of nutritional fitness. Along with commonly recommendable foods across different diets, our analysis reveals favourable foods specific to each diet, such as immature lima beans for a vegan diet as an amino acid and choline source, and mushrooms for ovo-lacto vegetarian and vegan diets as a vitamin D source. Furthermore, we find that selenium and other essential micronutrients can be subject to deficiency in plant-based diets, and suggest nutritionally-desirable dietary patterns. We extend our analysis to two hypothetical scenarios of highly personalised, plant-based methionine-restricted diets. Our nutrient-profiling approach may provide a useful guide for designing different types of personalised vegetarian diets.

Vegetable proteins: are they nutritionally equivalent to animal protein.

On the basis of the rate of animal growth, proteins have been traditionally classed as high quality, such as egg and milk protein, or low quality such as gluten. In general, vegetable proteins are of low quality but soy protein is an exception. The paper by Capristo et al. in this issue of the journal has shown that enteral formulations consisting of soy protein are as effective nutritionally as enteral formulations containing milk protein.

Soybeans vs. textured soy proteins as meat extenders. Cooking losses, palatability, and thiamin content of freshly cooked and frozen meat loaves.

The effects of replacing 30 percent of the ground beef in meat loaves with boiled ground soybeans or textured soy protein (TSP) were studied. The substitutions were equally effective in increasing yields of freshly cooked, raw frozen and cooked, and cooked, frozen, and reheated meat loaves. Scores for several palatability characteristics, including general desirability, were higher for meat loaves containing soybeans than for loaves containing TSP. The mixtures and loaves contained similar amounts of protein and thiamin. Cooking losses and mean palatability scores indicated advantages for freezing raw loaf mixtures rather than cooked loaves.

The value of soybean hulls as a replacement for corn in beef cattle diets formulated with or without added fat.

One hundred twenty crossbred yearling steers (average weight = 445 +/- 32 kg) were used in an 84-d randomized complete block design experiment to determine the value of soybean hulls (SH) as a replacement for corn in concentrate diets formulated with or without added fat (lard). The steers were blocked by weight and alloted to one of eight treatments in a 4 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments. The main factors were amount of SH (0, 20, 40, or 60% of diet DM) and amount of added fat (0 or 5% of diet DM). The basal diet without added fat or SH contained cracked corn (80%), a urea-based protein supplement (15%), and ground corn cobs (5%). Replacing corn with SH linearly (P = .03) decreased ADG, increased DMI (linear, P = .003; quadratic, P = .06), and linearly (P < .001) decreased gain efficiency. Fat addition tended (P = .08) to improve efficiency; ADG and DMI were unaffected (P > .05) by fat addition. Similar diets were fed to 16 wethers (average weight = 47 +/- 2.3 kg) in a randomized complete block design experiment to determine digestibility of NDF and dietary concentration of DE. Replacing corn with SH linearly increased DMI (P = .001) and NDF (P < .001) and linearly decreased (P < .001) the digestibility of DM. The digestibility of NDF tended to increase with increased SH. The digestibility of energy linearly (P = .0001) decreased with increased SH. The amount of fat had no effect (P > .05) on DMI or intake of NDF or digestibilities of these nutrients. The addition of fat tended (P = .07) to improve the intake of DE.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of weaning diet on the ecology of adherent lactobacilli in the gastrointestinal tract of the pig.

Sixteen pigs were included in an investigation of the effects of weaning and weaning diet on the ecology of adherent Lactobacillus species in the gastrointestinal tract. At 28 d of age four pigs were killed and were designated as the preweaning control (PW). Four pigs remained on the sow (Sow), four pigs were fed a corn-soy-lactose (CSL) diet, and the remaining four pigs were fed a corn-soy (CS) diet. Pigs from the latter three treatments were killed at 38 d of age. Tissue samples were taken from the pars esophagus, ileum, and cecum and the adherent lactobacilli were enumerated using Rogosa SL agar. Bacterial colonies were randomly selected from Rogosa SL agar plates and speciated using cell type, morphology, and substrate fermentation tests. The species data were used to calculate the Shannon, Simpson, and evenness diversity indices. Shannon and Simpson diversity index values when averaged across tissues were lower (P < .05) for PW than for postweaning treatments (Sow, CSL, and CS) and lower (P < .05) when pigs receiving sow's milk (PW and Sow) were compared with pigs receiving the dry diets (CSL and CS). The diversity of adherent Lactobacillus is altered by the form of the diet fed to weanling pigs, and statistical ecological methods provide a powerful way of analyzing the ecology of the gastrointestinal tract.

Effect of ruminally undegradable protein from fish meal on growth and reproduction of peripuberal Brahman bulls.

Thirty-nine Brahman bulls (301.7 +/- 4.1 d; 202.7 +/- 4.7 kg) were allotted to one of two treatments and fed soybean meal (SBM)- or fish meal (FIS)-based supplements and hay to examine the effects of source of protein on growth and reproductive development. The fish meal supplement had 72% ruminally undegradable protein (RUP) and the soybean meal supplement had 47% RUP. Bulls assigned to the FIS treatment had higher (P < .01) total weight gain (81.2 +/- 1.4 vs 71.2 +/- 2.2 kg), higher (P < .01) ADG (.97 +/- .02 vs .85 +/- .03 kg), and better (P < .05) feed:gain ratio (7.6 +/- .1 vs 8.6 +/- .1 feed/BW gain for FIS vs SBM, respectively). Age at first motile spermatozoa was not affected (P > .05) by source of protein (429.9 +/- 9.6 vs 427.2 +/- 9.5 d, for bulls receiving FIS or SBM supplements, respectively). Likewise, age at puberty (473.3 +/- 21.7 d vs 465.9 +/- 12.9 d for bulls receiving FIS and SBM supplements, respectively) was similar for both treatment groups. There were no differences between treatments in scrotal circumference at those stages. At puberty semen quality was similar for bulls receiving FIS or SBM treatments, and no differences existed in LH and testosterone concentrations between treatments. We conclude that fish meal supplement increased growth but did not alter reproductive parameters in Brahman bulls.

Biochemical composition and indigestible oligosaccharides in Phaseolus vulgaris L. seeds.

Common beans have a high nutritional value, but contain galactooligosaccharides (GO), which cause flatulence and intestinal discomfort in humans. The biochemical composition of ten bean cultivars was determined to select those of high protein and low GO contents. The cultivars varied in carbohydrate (47.02-60.17%), GO (3.12-5.71%), protein (22.17-33.50%), lipid (1.13-1.81%), moisture (11.42-12.93%) and ash contents (4.08-5.61%). 'Mexico 222' presented the highest alpha-galactosidase activity. Protein and GO contents were positively correlated. 'Perry Marrow' combined high protein and low GO concentrations, indicating it can be used in improvement programs aiming at high-quality cultivars for human consumption.

Yield and in vitro nutritional quality of some leguminous seed protein isolates.

Seed protein concentrates (SPC) were extracted from 4 leguminous species and the extractabilities of total N (nitrogen), protein N and SPC determined. In addition, composition, calorie value and in vitro enzymatic digestibility of these SPCs was analysed. Results indicate the promising nutritional potential of these SPCs.

An attempt to influence attitudes towards textured soya protein as an alternative to meat.

The effect of person-to-person discussions, demonstrations and advertising on the attitude of mothers of young families towards textured soya-bean protein products as an alternative to meat has been studied. The results show that person-to-person interviews can influence the attitudes towards textured vegetable protein although some individuals remain resistant to this approach.

Effect of processing on some chemical and nutritional characteristics of pre-cooked and dehydrated legumes.

The effect of processing on chemical composition and protein quality of three legumes was studied. The species analyzed were beans (Phaseolus vulgaris), Tórtola and Coscorrón varieties; lentils (Lens esculenta), Laird variety; and chick peas (Cicer arietinum), California-INIA variety. The legumes were soaked in a solution of Na2 EDTA at 0.03% for 16 h and cooked for a predetermined period for each species. They were dried in a tray drier with cross currents of air flowing at a speed of 10 m/min until the residual moisture content was 8%. The water activity in the resulting products ranged from 0.574 to 0.587, thus completely assuring no microbial activity. No important changes were observed in the legumes protein, fat, or fibre contents after processing. The soaking solution was effective in reducing the phytic acid content from 2.99 to 1.64 mg/100 g in the Tórtola beans, which had the highest acid value prior processing. In all the species the heat treatment reduced the activity of the trypsin inhibitors by at least 50%. Cooking and drying significantly increased protein digestibility in all the legumes studied, with chick peas showing the most dramatic increase: form 54.7% pre-processing to 94.9% post-processing. With regard to Net Protein Ratio (NPR), chick peas had a value of 4.03, followed by Tórtola beans (3.29), Coscorrón (3.09) and lentils (2.61). The NPR value for the casein diet was 4.20.

Influence of spices on utilization of sorghum and chickpea protein.

Influence of eight common Indian spices on the protein quality of sorghum and chickpea was studied. Spices used include red chillies (Capsicum annum), black pepper (piper nigrum), coriander seeds (Coriandrum sativum) cumin seeds (Cuminum cyminum), garlic (Allium sativum), asafoetida (Ferula foetida), dry ginger (Zingiber officinale) and ajowan (Carum copticum). Addition of spices did not affect protein digestibility (TD) of sorghum. The BV of all sorghum diets with spices was higher than that of control diet. However, it was significant only in case of diets combined with red chilli + coriander (1:1) mix, black pepper + cumin (1:1) mix, coriander and cumin. Addition of spices did not have any effect on TD or BV of chickpea diets.

Changes in the nutritive value of soy protein concentrate during autoclaving.

Soy protein concentrate (Promosoy R Plus) was mixed with water to form a thick paste and autoclaved at 121 degrees C for 10 min, 30 min, 2 h, or 4 h. Unautoclaved SPC served as a control. Nitrogen solubility measurements and SDS-PAGE analysis indicated that autoclaving resulted in the formation of soy protein aggregates, with a MW of approximately 1 million daltons, held together by non-covalent and disulfide bonds. The 10 min, 30 min, 2 h, and 4 h SPC samples contained 6, 20, 27 and 39% less cysteine, respectively, than the SPC control. No significant differences were found in the PERs, 2.6-2-7, of a casein control, unautoclaved SPC control and 10 min and 30 min autoclaved samples. PERs of the 2 h and 4 h autoclaved samples, 2.0 and 1.9 respectively, were significantly lower than the other four diets. No significant differences were found in the apparent digestibility of the 10 min, 30 min, and 2 h autoclaved samples; the 4 h autoclaved sample however was significantly less digestible. Decreased PERs of autoclaved SPC samples were likely due to (1) crysteine destruction, (2) decreased protein digestibility, and (3) decreased food intake.

[Influence of hydrothermic and enzymatic treatments on the nutritive value of Faba beans: in vitro study]. / Influence des traitements hydrothermiques et enzymatiques sur la valeur nutritionnelle des proteines de féveroles : étude par méthodes in vitro.

In order to improve the digestibility of the Faba bean flour an hydrothermic enzymic and fermentation treatment has been thought out (US patent 395 8015, Ets Ury, M. Gay). This study aims at stemming out the nutritionnal and structural repercusions of this treatment on the Faba proteins. The nitrogen distribution is deeply changed : total nitrogen increase (47%), water soluble nitrogen decrease (41%), water soluble non-protein nitrogen increase. The treatment can enrich the flour in nitrogen but the proteins supplement is insoluble in water. The treatment changed the electrophoretic behaviour of flour proteins letting disappear precipitable pH 4,5 proteins. Amino acid composition is slightly changed, however there is an increase of lysine and methionine (15 et 25%) and a decrease of cysteine (28%). The chemical score shows sulfur amino acids and tryptophan deficiency. Enzymatic (pepsine and pancreatine mixture) liberation of all amino acids is low and is not improved by the treatment but for the lysine. Cell proteins supplement, which appeared during the treatment (61%), water insoluble, could improve nutritive value of the flour if a more complete destruction of the cell walls permitted their liberation and their solubilization.

New methods for comparing the biological efficiency of alternate nutrient sources.

The objective of this study is to propose new methods for the determination of biological efficiency (the ability of a nutrient to produce a response) and for comparison of the efficiencies of alternate nutrient sources. The proposed methods are based on a four-parameter kinetic model which describes response as a function of intake. The comparison of the abilities of two proteins (casein and soybean protein concentrate) to promote weight gain in weanling rats is presented as an example; however, the model is also useful for other nutrients (proteins, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, etc.) and other responses (blood enzyme or protein levels, tissue enzyme levels, etc.). Application of the method leads to useful comparisons of nutrient sources as well as information concerning the maximum efficiencies and rates of nutrient utilization from different sources.

Effect of water of hydration on the measurement of the protein efficiency ratio of casein and soybean protein with rats.

The hydration of soybean protein or casein prior to mixing of the diet improves the apparent protein efficiency ratio (PER). The PER of soybean protein was improved more than that of casein, so that an increase in adjusted PER of soybean protein was observed also. The improvement did not appear to be associated with digestibility. It is theorized that some diets with dry protein isolates may be less acceptable to the rat due to the dusty nature of the isolate. Consequently, diets with such isolates may have a lower PER. The effect can be overcome by hydrating the protein isolates prior to mixing the diet.

Plasma free amino acids in children consuming lupin protein with and without methionine supplementation.

Plasma free amino acids were measured in the fasting state and 3 and 4 hours postprandially in children after 9 days consumption of diets in which lupin provided all of 6.4-6.7% protein kcal, either with supplementation of 2% (grams/gram protein) DL-methionine (L & Met, n = 9) or with an isonitrogenous amount of urea (L & U, n = 10). Fasting concentration of total amino acids (TAA) and of essential amino acids (TEAA) and the TEAA:TAA molar ratio did not differ between diets. Fasting Met concentration (15 +/- 4 mumol/liter) and the Met:TEAA ratio (0.021 +/- 0.005) were markedly depressed after 9 days of L & U. Supplementation with Met caused an expected increase of Met concentration (25 +/- 6 mumol/liter) and the Met:TEAA molar ratio (0.039 +/- 0.007) and a profound decrease of Thr concentration (119 +/- 28 to 77 +/- 22 mumol/liter) and Thr:TEAA (0.165 +/- 0.027 to 0.124 +/- 0.028). Postprandially after L ", Met and Met: TEAA did not change from their low fast ing values. After L rMet, Met and Met:TEAA increased significantly relative to fasting values. Threonine concentration increased but the Thr:TEAA ratio decreased significantly (0.124 +/- 0.028 to 0.111 +/- 0.027). These studies confirm Met as the first-limiting amino acid in lupin protein and suggest that Thr becomes limiting when Met is provided in adequate amounts.