The best meatless meats: we take the mystery out of meat stand-ins and tell you which ones taste like the real deal - How to Shop Smart

Natural Health, August, 2003 by Cheryl Redmond

WHETHER YOU'RE A meat eater trying to cut back or a vegetarian looking for convenient ways to get protein, when it comes to meatless versions of burgers, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and sausages, you've got more choices than ever before. Walk down the aisles of any supermarket and you'll see a wide array of products that look, smell, and taste remarkably like meat but are made with wheat, soy, and other plant ingredients.

However, just because faux meat products use plant foods doesn't make them all healthy. So we talked to nutrition experts to find out what you should look for when choosing a meatless meat. Then, using their criteria, we held a taste test. (See "Our Favorite Fakes," next page.) Keep the following advice in mind the next time you're shopping for a meat alternative.

Study the Serving Size

Look at portion size first when reading the label on any prepared food, says Dawn Jackson, R.D., a dietitian and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. Without that reference point, none of the other nutrient amounts make sense. The serving sizes for these types of products are often small. It may sound obvious, but if you eat two servings you need to double nutrient figures like calories, fat, and sodium, which can make a healthy product not so healthy.

To cope with small portions, serve faux meats with wholesome, filling foods, not other processed foods. For example, top a veggie burger with a dollop of guacamole and serve it on a whole-grain bun instead of with ketchup on a white-flour roll. The fiber and fat in the whole grains and guacamole will help you feel full longer.

Skimp on Saturated Fat

When it comes to fat, meat alternatives have a big advantage over their meat counterparts. But you should still watch the amounts, especially for saturated fat. Jackson tells her clients to look at saturated fat, rather than total fat, when reading labels because of its strong association with heart disease. Most of our experts recommended products with 1 g or less of saturated fat per serving.

Some meat alternatives contain hydrogenated oils, which signal the presence of artery-clogging trans fatty acids (trans fat content does not yet appear on labels). But if you pay attention to saturated fats, you don't need to worry about trans fats, says Amy Lanou, Ph.D., nutrition director for the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, D.C. Products that contain little or no saturated fat have insignificant levels of trans fats, she says.

Keep Sodium in Check

Sodium is the Achilles' heel of many processed foods, including meat alternatives. Replacing a beef burger with a veggie burger can increase your sodium intake fivefold. Most of our experts recommend you buy products with less than 400 mg of sodium per serving. To keep levels within reason, pair faux meats with whole foods, which are naturally low in sodium, instead of with other processed foods. For instance, serve veggie hot dogs with a leafy salad dressed with oil and vinegar rather than canned baked beans.

Get Adequate Protein

Meat substitutes generally contain less protein than an equivalent amount of meat. But that's okay, says Lanou, because many Americans eat too much protein--on average, about twice as much as we need. Most people require between 40 and 70 g of protein per day. If you eat meat several times a week, don't worry about getting enough protein from these meat alternatives. If you're a vegetarian, look for 7 to 10 g per serving. That shouldn't be too hard; most meatless burgers based on soy or wheat gluten contain around 15 g of protein.

Soy-based meat alternatives offer a health bonus, points out Barbara Ruhs, R.D., a nutrition consultant in Cambridge, Mass., and owner of Neighbor hoodNutrition.com. Research has shown that eating 25 g of soy daily may lower your risk of heart disease. The Food and Drug Administration allows food manufacturers to make this claim on their packaging if their product includes at least 6.25 g of soy protein per serving. If you don't see a claim on the label, check the ingredient list. If the first ingredient is soy protein concentrate or isolate, then most of the protein listed on the nutrient label comes from heart-healthy soy.

Read the Fine Print

Although all meat alternatives are highly processed foods, some have longer ingredient lists than others. To avoid eating a lot of preservatives and artificial colors and flavors, look for products with a short list of recognizable ingredients. Make an exception for vitamins and minerals; they're often listed under both their chemical and common names, which can make an ingredient list look long.

If you have allergies, inspect the ingredient list extra carefully. Soy, wheat, and egg whites--all common allergens--appear frequently, and a few products use the flavor enhancer MSG, which causes headaches in sensitive individuals. One manufacturer, Quorn, uses a mycoprotein (fungus) as its main ingredient. Although Quorn products have been popular for many years, some people have reported severe gastrointestinal distress (vomiting and diarrhea) after eating them. If you have mold allergies, use caution when trying products made with this ingredient.