DEBUNKED: The nutritional value of plant-based cheeses relative to their far less compassionate dairy-based alternatives has received a lot of attention in the press recently. This may be true of many vegan versions right now, but as Claire Hamlett writes, are our critics missing the point?

A recent article in The Conversation has warned that vegan cheese is a poor nutritional substitute for animal-based cheese, while a new study has found that protein in vegan meat may not be absorbed as well as that from real meat. While health is not the point of veganism, it can be a big co-benefit. Learning how to get all the nutrients you need on a vegan diet is one of the inevitable tasks that new vegans undertake (as vegans are reminded of constantly by non-vegans), and few are likely to think of plant-based meat and cheese as key ways to meet their nutritional needs. In that sense, the claims of the Conversation article and the findings of the study are not that big of a deal. Nonetheless, they both raise points that would be good for plant-based food manufacturers to take on board as meat and cheese alternatives continue to evolve.

According to the Conversation article, by professor of nutritional biochemistry Richard Hoffman, many kinds of vegan cheeses are made of starch and vegetable oils which, when consumed in high quantities, can contribute to weight gain and increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, as well as raising cholesterol and increasing the risk of heart disease due to saturated fat content. There is little protein in vegan cheese, and it’s left to manufacturers to decide whether to add any vitamins to their products. Hoffman noted that some vegan cheese is healthier than others, with those made from cashew nuts, in particular, having more protein and lower levels of saturated fat. He also wrote that while animal-based cheese contains saturated fat, it is a source of protein and various vitamins. What he doesn’t mention is that dairy cheese is also high in salt, and that whether it is unhealthy depends on how much you consume and what type it is, as well as the fact that you can replace the protein and some of the vitamins from cheese with plant-based sources like lentils and tofu. 

The study on plant-based meat, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, found that lab-grown human cells absorbed peptides and amino acids from a soy and wheat-based meat substitute less well than they did from chicken meat. With the plethora of ingredients now used or being developed to make meat substitutes, from pea protein to fungi to chickpeas, the study clearly has some limitations in only assessing the protein uptake from soy and wheat. And to reiterate, not many vegans would be relying on a meat substitute to get their protein, knowing that there are many good whole foods sources of it.

However, as Hoffman points out in his article, people “may expect” to get nutritional benefits from vegan alternatives. “My article is merely to highlight the potential health risks of vegan cheeses for those who are not aware of these,” he added in the comments below his article. This concern could be of more relevance for would-be vegans than those who have already quit dairy, but the messaging could have mixed results. On the one hand, everyone, whether vegan or not, should know how to meet their nutritional needs, and people who think of veganism as a way to be healthy can make the mistake of assuming anything vegan must be better for them.

Better health can be a co-benefit of veganism, but as long as healthiness is considered its primary goal (a message pushed by a lot of the media in which talking about animal rights is still seen as radical) there are people who will be put off quitting dairy by articles like Hoffman’s. On the other hand, for ethical vegans who are also health-conscious, more accessible evidence on the nutritional quality of vegan substitutes is useful.

If some vegan cheeses have better nutritional profiles than others, and some are actually not all that good for us, could they be improved? An interesting point made by Hoffman is that efforts to replicate the texture and taste of cheese are part of what brings down its nutritional qualities. “[M]any manufacturers are focused on making the cheese taste, look and even melt like dairy cheese,” he writes, rather than focusing on nutrition. According to one study, of 109 vegan kinds of cheese available in the UK, only 13 per cent were fortified with calcium, 37 per cent with vitamin B12, and two per cent with vitamin D. This clearly leaves some room for improvement if consumers were to be able to rely on most vegan cheeses to provide some nutritional benefits.

The authors of that study also note that using healthier bases for vegan cheeses such as legumes could improve their healthiness, with different production processes helping to overcome issues with texture and taste. They acknowledge that cheeses based on soy, for example, rather than coconut oil, would be an acquired taste. “Another approach could be to accept the flavor and properties of soy and legume-based cheese alternatives and to recognise that these products are different from dairy cheese,” they write. “This approach may not succeed with consumers who are ultimately looking for a product that mimics dairy cheese, but it may appeal to consumers who appreciate the flavour of legumes or other plant foods in their own right and who appreciate the potentially less processed nature of these products.”

The authors of the study on protein absorption of plant-based meat make a similar point: “Improvement of the nutritional value of proteins in [meat alternatives] could be fulfilled through formulation and/or production conditions. Future research centred on the comparison of protein bioavailability of [meat alternatives] and meat using in vivo studies will be helpful to gather complementary information on the nutritional relevance.”

Improving nutritional quality through technological intervention is not confined only to vegan foods - farmed animals are given B12 supplements, for example - and shouldn’t be a reason to consider them inferior. Meat and cheese substitutes have come a very long way in a relatively short space of time, and their potential to become even tastier and healthier seems great.

Claire Hamlett is a freelance journalist, writer and regular contributor at Surge. Based in Oxford, UK, Claire tells stories that challenge systemic exploitation of and disregard for animals and the environment and that point to a better way of doing things.

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