Is the Impossible Burger Impossibly Toxic?
Have you ever tried the famous “Impossible Burger”? Touted as a healthy, plant-based alternative with a meaty flavour due to their unique “Heme”, the “Impossible Burger” is just about the farthest thing from a “health food” as you can get.
Is Soy Protein Healthy?
The Impossible Burger boasts 19 grams of plant-based protein from soy. While soy is a complete source of protein, the soy in this fake product is a GMO (genetically modified organism), making it quite unnatural. Furthermore, soy protein isolate is a heavily processed supplement that has had fibre, fat and nutrients removed. Soy may cause hormonal disruptions due to estrogen-mimicking compounds and contains high levels of phytic acid which can strip the body of calcium. Hexane, a brain toxin, is commonly used for extraction.
What About GMOs?
GMOs in these fake “frankenfoods” carry big dangers. GM foods are created by combining different species of foods to produce new, unnatural foods with modified DNA, that are highly resistant to chemicals, bugs and the elements. These “Round-up Ready” foods are not food and do not belong in our diet. According to the Non-GMO Project, “to date, there have been no epidemiological studies investigating potential effects of GMO food on human health.”
The WHO categorizes GMOs has “probable carcinogens” (cancer-causing) and is linked to kidney issues, birth defects and autism. GMO studies in rats showed the development of cancers and tumors, kidney and liver damage, hormonal disruption and premature death.
What Makes it Taste Like Meat…? Heme.
In nature, heme is a substance that attaches to iron and helps deliver oxygen throughout the body. Heme, or soy leghemoglobin, is their genetically engineered substance that makes their product taste and “bleed” like meat. On their website it says plain and simple that this special ingredient is a product of genetic modification:
“…We took the DNA from these soy plants and inserted it into a genetically engineered yeast.”
Earlier in 2021, a lawsuit was brought up to the safety of this food additive, as there are no long-term studies. According to Forbes, “the FDA did not require testing of the raw product or the genetically engineered yeast.”
A Note On Iron
There are 2 types of iron: Heme-iron which is found in animals and non-heme iron which is found in plants. The absorption of heme iron is around 10-30%, while the absorption of non-heme iron is only about 8-10%, making animal foods a preferable source. That being said, if you don’t eat meat, you can still live a healthy life, it’s just a harder nutrient to absorb and you may want to have your iron and B12 tested to ensure optimum levels.
What About the Neurotoxin MSG?
Looking at the ingredients in this supposedly healthy plant alternative, we see a lot of a substance that is known to be toxic to the brain, called MSG. MSG is a highly addictive flavour-enhancer that actually excites your brain cells to death! It’s added to a huge variety of processed foods and even “health” foods. We find it as “glutamate”, “flavours”, “yeast extract”, “modified food starch” and much more.
What to Eat Instead
The alternative to these toxic, meat-like products are good old whole-food plant proteins like beans, legumes, hemp, quinoa, spirulina and whole grains!
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