Expert says plant based meat substitutes are 'not a healthy alternative'

A leading food scientist has warned that plant-based meat substitutes have little nutritional value, and may even be harmful to pregnant women.

Chris Elliott, a professor at the School of Biological Sciences at Queens University in Belfast and the director of the Institute for Global Food Security, has said that profit, not health or environmental concerns, is the main driver of the production of plant-based "fake meat".

According to Professor Elliott, many fake meats products have a very large amount of highly processed soy or pea protein, "bereft of fatty acids, bereft of essential vitamins".

"People are buying these foods thinking they’re being healthy, but actually what they’re doing is eating lots of additives that you wouldn’t find in ‘whole foods’", he said, speaking to UK media.

Meat substitutes derived from plants can have almost no nutritional value despite its perception as a healthier alternative.

"There are reports to say that pregnant women are most at risk from switching from a conventional diet to these plant-based diets because they are going to be very short of omega-3, vitamin b12 and vitamin D," Prof Elliott warned.

He stated that some of the biggest food companies are pushing plant-based products to cash in on the growing movement for healthy eating.

"The drive towards a lot of the products that we see in the markets now, the plant-based stuff, the big vegan labels, it’s not being done to help people, it’s not being done to help the planet - the driver is money." he claimed.

"It’s being done by big corporations to make huge amounts of money."