Carissa Wong is a person.
In a laboratory experiment, the gut cells of chickens were less well absorbed by the meat substitute.
Adapted from journal of agricultural and food chemistry
Plant-based meat alternatives may not be as well absorbed by the human body as chicken breast.
Da Chen and Osvaldo Campanella are professors at The Ohio State University. The study suggests that chicken has better digestibility than soy and wheat.
In their laboratory-based experiment, Chen, Campanella and their colleagues grew a layer of human gut cells on scaffolds that separated several dishes into two chambers. They add each digested product to a single chamber in each dish.
The team measured the amount ofpeptides that passed through the layer of gut cells to reach the opposite chamber in each dish.
Statistical analysis shows that the result was not a chance finding.
It's possible that eating meat alternatives will result in less absorption into our bloodstream. The team didn't look at whether reduced absorption leads to a deficiency of the immune system.
In the second part of the experiment, the team discovered that the fragments from chicken breast are smaller and more water-soluble than meat alternatives.
According to Campanella and Chen, it has been shown that smaller sizes and higher susceptibility can transfer more easily through gut cells.
According to Campanella and Chen, the lab model lacks the mucus lining found in the body.
The mucus layer in the gut serves as a filter for the peptides. They say that they didn't consider the mucus layer in the test.
Food can stay in the large intestine for up to 24 hours, a time that wasn't assessed in the experiment.
Plant-based meat alternatives and other meats beyond chicken breast depend on the composition and processing of their individualproteins
The Ohio State University team believes that plant-based meat alternatives are a good source of calories.
According to Campanella and Chen, plant-based meat alternatives have a good profile of amino acids and could be an adequate complement to a well-balanced diet.
Researchers are trying to improve the nutrition of plant-based meat alternatives.
"Plant-based foods should be carefully designed to ensure that they have similar or better nutrition than animal-based ones."
The journal is called Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
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