Perspective:Soy-basedMeatandDairy Alternatives,DespiteClassificationas Ultra-processedFoods,DeliverHigh-quality NutritiononParwithUnprocessedorMinimally ProcessedAnimal-basedCounterparts

Abstract

In many non-Asian countries, soy is consumed via soy-based meat and dairy alternatives, in addition to the traditional Asian soyfoods, such as tofu and miso. Meat alternatives are typically made using concentrated sources of soy protein, such as soy protein isolate (SPI) and soy protein concentrate(SPC).Therefore,theseproductsareclassifiedasultra-processedfoods(UPFs;group4)accordingtoNOVA,anincreasinglywidelyused food-classification system that classifies all foods into 1 of 4 groups according to the processing they undergo. Furthermore, most soymilks, even thosemadefromwholesoybeans,arealsoclassifiedasUPFsbecauseoftheadditionofsugarsandemulsifiers.Increasingly,recommendationsare beingmadetorestricttheconsumptionofUPFsbecausetheirintakeisassociatedwithavarietyofadversehealthoutcomes.CriticsofUPFsargue thesefoodsareunhealthfulforawideassortmentofreasons.ExplanationsfortheproposedadverseeffectsofUPFsincludetheirhighenergydensity, highglycemicindex(GI),hyper-palatability,andlowsatietypotential.ClaimshavealsobeenmadethatUPFsarenotsustainablyproduced.However, thisperspectivearguesthatnoneofthecriticismsofUPFsapplytosoy-basedmeatanddairyalternativeswhencomparedwiththeiranimal-based counterparts,beefandcowmilk,whichareclassifiedasunprocessedorminimallyprocessedfoods(group1).Classifyingsoy-basedmeatanddairy alternatives as UPFs may hinder their public acceptance, which could detrimentally affect personal and planetary health. In conclusion, the NOVA classificationsystemissimplisticanddoesnotadequatelyevaluatethenutritionalattributesofmeatanddairyalternativesbasedonsoy