Plant vs Animal Protein

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Plant vs Animal Protein: Head to Head

Some people will obviously have strong ideological opinions here—for vegetarians and vegans, it’s no question, and for meat-eaters, it’s easy to be reactive to that and double-down on the bacon. But, we’re a health science newsletter, so we’ll be sticking to the science.

Which is better, healthwise?

First, it depends on how you go about it. Consider these options:

  • A piece of salmon
  • A steak
  • A hot dog
  • A hot dog, but plant-based
  • Textured soy protein (no additives)
  • Edamame (young soy) beans

Three animal-based protein sources, three plant-based. We could render the competition simple (but very unfair) by pitting the hotdog against the edamame beans, or the plant-based hot dog against the piece of salmon. So let’s kick this off by saying:

  • There are good and bad animal-based protein sources
  • There are good and bad plant-based protein sources

Whatever you choose, keep that in mind while you do. Less processed is better in either case. And if you do go for red meat, less is better, period.

Picking the healthiest from each, how do the nutritional profiles look?

They look good in both cases! One factor of importance is that in either case, our bodies will reduce the proteins we consume to their constituent amino acids, and then rebuild them into the specific proteins we actually need. Our bodies will do that regardless of the source, because we are neither a salmon nor a soybean, for example.

We need 20 specific amino acids, for our bodies to make the proteins we will use in our bodies. Of these, 9 are considered “essential”, meaning we cannot synthesize them and must get them from our diet,

Animal protein sources contain all 9 of those (just like we do). Plant based sources often don’t, individually, but by eating soy for example (which does contain them all) and/or getting multiple sources of protein from different plants, the 9 can be covered quite easily with little thought, just by having a varied diet.

Meats are #1!

  • They’re number 1 for nutritional density
  • They’re number 1 for health risks, too

So while plant-based diet adherents may need to consume more varied things to get all the nutrients necessary, meat-eaters won’t have that problem.

Meat-eaters will instead have a different problem, of more diet-related health risks, e.g.

  • Cardiovascular disease
  • Metabolic disorders
  • Cancers

So again, if eating (especially processed and/or red) meat, moderation is good. The Mediterranean Diet that we so often recommend, by default contains small amounts of lean animal protein.

Which is better for building muscle?

Assuming a broadly healthy balanced diet, and getting sufficient protein from your chosen source, they’re pretty equal:

(both studies showed that both dietary approaches yielded results that showed no difference in muscle synthesis between the two)

The bottom line is…

Healthwise, what’s more important than whether you get your protein from animals or plants is that you eat foods that aren’t processed, and are varied.

And if you want to do a suped-up Mediterranean Diet with less red meat, you might want to try:

A Pesco-Mediterranean Diet With Intermittent Fasting: JACC Review Topic of the Week

^This is from a review in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, and in few words, they recommend it very highly

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  • Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss – by Jennifer Powter, MSc

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This is not a dieting book, and it’s not a motivational pep talk.

    The book starts with the assumption that you do want to lose weight (it also assumes you’re a woman, and probably over 40… that’s just the book’s target market, but the same advice is good even if that’s not you), and that you’ve probably been trying, on and off, for a while. Her position is simple:

    ❝I don’t believe that you have a weight loss problem. I believe that you have a self-sabotage problem❞

    ~ Jennifer Powter, MSc

    As to how this sabotage may be occurring, Powter talks about fears that may be holding you back, including but not limited to:

    • Fear of failure
    • Fear of the unknown
    • Fear of loss
    • Fear of embarrassment
    • Fear of your weight not being the reason your life sucks

    Far from putting the reader down, though, Powter approaches everything with compassion. To this end, her prescription starts with encouraging self-love. Not when you’re down to a certain size, not when you’re conforming perfectly to a certain diet, but now. You don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love.

    On the topic of perfection: a recurring theme in the book is the danger of perfectionism. In her view, perfectionism is nothing more nor less than the most justifiable way to hold yourself back in life.

    Lastly, she covers mental reframes, with useful questions to ask oneself on a daily basis, to ensure progressing step by step into your best life.

    In short: if you’d like to lose weight and have been trying for a while, maybe on and off, this book could get you out of that cycle and into a much better state of being.

    Get your copy of “Stop Sabotaging Your Weight Loss” from Amazon today!

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  • An Addiction Expert’s Insights On Festive Drinking

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This is Dr. Christopher Kahler. He’s Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Director of Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, all at Brown University.

    What does he want us to know?

    It’s the trickiest time of the year

    Per stats, alcohol sales peak in December, with the heaviest drinking being from mid-December (getting an early start on the Christmas cheer) to New Year’s Eve. As for why, there’s a collection of reasons, as he notes:

    ❝The main challenge is there’s an extra layer of stress, with a lot of obligations and expectations from friends and family. We’re around people who maybe we’re not usually around, and in larger groups. It’s also a time of heightened emotion and, for some people, loneliness.

    On top of that, alcohol use is built into a lot of our winter holiday traditions. It’s often marketed as part of the “good life.” We’re expected to have alcohol when we celebrate.❞

    As for how much alcohol is safe to drink… According to the World Health Organization, the only safe amount of alcohol is zero:

    Can We Drink To Good Health?

    Dr. Kahler acknowledges, however, that many people will wish to imbibe anyway, and indeed, he himself does drink a little, but endeavours to do so mindfully, and as such, he recommends that we…

    HALT!

    Dr. Kahler counsels us against making decisions (including the decision to drink alcohol), on occasions when we are one or more of the following:

    • Hungry
    • Angry
    • Lonely
    • Tired

    He also notes that around this time of year, often our normal schedules and habits are disrupted, which introduces more microdecisions to our daily lives, which in turn means more “decision fatigue”, and the greater chance of making bad decisions.

    We share some practical tips on how to reduce the chances of thusly erring, here:

    How To Reduce Or Quit Alcohol

    Set your intentions now

    He bids us figure out what our goal is, and really think it through, including not just “how many drinks to have” if we’re drinking, but also such things as “what feelings are likely to come up”. Because, if we’ve historically used alcohol as a maladaptive coping mechanism, we’re going to need a different, better, healthier coping mechanism (we talked more about that in our above-linked article about reducing or quitting alcohol, too, with some examples).

    He also suggests that we memorize our social responses—exactly what we’re going to say if offered a drink, for example:

    ❝It’s important to know what you’re going to say about your alcohol use. If someone asks if they can get you a drink, good responses could be: “A glass of water would be great” or “Do you have any non-alcoholic cider?” You don’t have to explain yourself. Just ask for what you want, because saying no to someone can be difficult.❞

    See also:

    December’s Traps To Plan Around

    Mix it up and slow it down

    No, that doesn’t mean mix yourself a sloe gin cocktail. But rather, it’s about alternating alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, to give your body half a chance to process the alcohol, and also to rehydrate a little along the way.

    We talk about this and other damage-limitation methods, here:

    How To Reduce The Harm Of Festive Drinking (Without Abstaining)

    Take care!

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  • The Dirt Cure – by Dr. Maya Shetreat-Klein

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    As we discussed in our article “Stop Sabotaging Your Gut”, there is indeed merit to living a little dirty, in particular when it comes to what we put in our mouths. Having the space of an entire book rather than a small article, Dr. Shetreat-Klein expands on this in great detail.

    The subtitle mentions “growing healthy kids with food straight from the soil”; it’s worth noting that all the information here (with the exception of concerning breastfeeding etc) is equally applicable to adults too—so if it’s your own health you’re focused on rather than that of kids or grandkids, then that’s fine too.

    You may be wondering: what more is there to say than “don’t scrub your vegetables as though you’re about to perform surgery with them”?

    There’s a lot of background information on what things help or harm our bodies in the first place, most notably via our gut, and as an important extra consideration, the gut-brain axis. Incidentally, the author is a neurologist by professional background.

    Then she gets more specific, into “include and exclude” recommendations. In this matter we have one criticism: she does recommend raw milk over pasteurized, and that is, by overwhelming scientific consensus, a terrible idea. Raw milk is an abundant source of pathogens and a breeding ground for even more. There is “living dirty” and there is “living dangerously”, and drinking raw milk is the latter. See also: Pasteurization: What It Does And Doesn’t Do

    However, for the most part, the rest of her advice is sound, and there’s even a recipes section too.

    The style is something of a polemic throughout, but the extensive venting does not take away from there being a lot of genuine information in here too.

    Bottom line: please skip the raw milk, but aside from that, if you’d like to improve your diet to improve your gut and immune health, then this book can help with that.

    Click here to check out The Dirt Cure, and dirty it up!

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  • With all this bird flu around, how safe are eggs, chicken or milk?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Enzo Palombo, Swinburne University of Technology

    Recent outbreaks of bird flu – in US dairy herds, poultry farms in Australia and elsewhere, and isolated cases in humans – have raised the issue of food safety.

    So can the virus transfer from infected farm animals to contaminate milk, meat or eggs? How likely is this?

    And what do we need to think about to minimise our risk when shopping for or preparing food?

    AS Foodstudio/Shutterstock

    How safe is milk?

    Bird flu (or avian influenza) is a bird disease caused by specific types of influenza virus. But the virus can also infect cows. In the US, for instance, to date more than 80 dairy herds in at least nine states have been infected with the H5N1 version of the virus.

    Investigations are under way to confirm how this happened. But we do know infected birds can shed the virus in their saliva, nasal secretions and faeces. So bird flu can potentially contaminate animal-derived food products during processing and manufacturing.

    Indeed, fragments of bird flu genetic material (RNA) were found in cow’s milk from the dairy herds associated with infected US farmers.

    However, the spread of bird flu among cattle, and possibly to humans, is likely to have been caused through contact with contaminated milking equipment, not the milk itself.

    The test used to detect the virus in milk – which uses similar PCR technology to lab-based COVID tests – is also highly sensitive. This means it can detect very low levels of the bird flu RNA. But the test does not distinguish between live or inactivated virus, just that the RNA is present. So from this test alone, we cannot tell if the virus found in milk is infectious (and capable of infecting humans).

    Rows of milk bottles in supermarket fridge
    It’s best to stick with pasteurised milk. Amnixia/Shutterstock

    Does that mean milk is safe to drink and won’t transmit bird flu? Yes and no.

    In Australia, where bird flu has not been reported in dairy cattle, the answer is yes. It is safe to drink milk and milk products made from Australian milk.

    In the US, the answer depends on whether the milk is pasteurised. We know pasteurisation is a common and reliable method of destroying concerning microbes, including influenza virus. Like most viruses, influenza virus (including bird flu virus) is inactivated by heat.

    Although there is little direct research on whether pasteurisation inactivates H5N1 in milk, we can extrapolate from what we know about heat inactivation of H5N1 in chicken and eggs.

    So we can be confident there is no risk of bird flu transmission via pasteurised milk or milk products.

    However, it’s another matter for unpasteurised or “raw” US milk or milk products. A recent study showed mice fed raw milk contaminated with bird flu developed signs of illness. So to be on the safe side, it would be advisable to avoid raw milk products.

    How about chicken?

    Bird flu has caused sporadic outbreaks in wild birds and domestic poultry worldwide, including in Australia. In recent weeks, there have been three reported outbreaks in Victorian poultry farms (two with H7N3 bird flu, one with H7N9). There has been one reported outbreak in Western Australia (H9N2).

    The strains of bird flu identified in the Victorian and Western Australia outbreaks can cause human infection, although these are rare and typically result from close contact with infected live birds or contaminated environments.

    Therefore, the chance of bird flu transmission in chicken meat is remote.

    Nonetheless, it is timely to remind people to handle chicken meat with caution as many dangerous pathogens, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter, can be found on chicken carcasses.

    Always handle chicken meat carefully when shopping, transporting it home and storing it in the kitchen. For instance, make sure no meat juices cross-contaminate other items, consider using a cool bag when transporting meat, and refrigerate or freeze the meat within two hours.

    Avoid washing your chicken before cooking to prevent the spread of disease-causing microbes around the kitchen.

    Finally, cook chicken thoroughly as viruses (including bird flu) cannot survive cooking temperatures.

    Are eggs safe?

    The recent Australian outbreaks have occurred in egg-laying or mixed poultry flocks, so concerns have been raised about bird flu transmission via contaminated chicken eggs.

    Can flu viruses contaminate chicken eggs and potentially spread bird flu? It appears so. A report from 2007 said it was feasible for influenza viruses to enter through the eggshell. This is because influenza virus particles are smaller (100 nanometres) than the pores in eggshells (at least 200 nm).

    So viruses could enter eggs and be protected from cleaning procedures designed to remove microbes from the egg surface.

    Therefore, like the advice about milk and meat, cooking eggs is best.

    The US Food and Drug Administration recommends cooking poultry, eggs and other animal products to the proper temperature and preventing cross-contamination between raw and cooked food.

    In a nutshell

    If you consume pasteurised milk products and thoroughly cook your chicken and eggs, there is nothing to worry about as bird flu is inactivated by heat.

    The real fear is that the virus will evolve into highly pathogenic versions that can be transmitted from human to human.

    That scenario is much more frightening than any potential spread though food.

    Enzo Palombo, Professor of Microbiology, Swinburne University of Technology

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    Don’t Forget…

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  • Activate Your Brain – by Scott G. Halford

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    We’ve reviewed a number of “improve your brain health” books over time, and this one’s quite different. How?

    Most of the books we’ve reviewed have been focused on optimizing diet and exercise for brain health with a nod to other factors… This one focuses more on those other factors.

    While this book does reference a fair bit of hard science, much of it is written more like a pop psychology book. As a result, most of the actionable advices, of which there are many, pertain to cognitive and behavioral adjustments.

    And no, this is not a book of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. It just happened to also address those two aspects.

    We learn, for example, how our neurochemistry influences us—but also how we can influence our neurochemistry.

    We also learn the oft-neglected (in other books!) social factors that influence brain health. Not just for our happiness, but for our productivity and peak cognitive performance too. Halford talks us through optimizing these such that we and those around us all get to enjoy the best brain benefits available to each of us.

    The format of the book is that each chapter explains what you need to know for a given “activation” as the author calls it, and then an exercise to try out. With fifteen such chapters, every reader is bound to find at least something new.

    Bottom line: if you want to grease those synapses in more ways than just eating some nuts and berries and getting good sleep and exercise, this book is a great resource.

    Click here to check out “Activate Your Brain” and find your next level of cognitive performance!

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  • Aging Minds: Normal vs Abnormal Cognitive Decline

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Having a “senior moment” and having dementia are things that are quite distinct from one another; while we may very reasonably intend to fight every part of it, it’s good to know what’s “normal” as well as what is starting to look like progress into something more severe:

    Know the differences

    Cognitive abilities naturally decline with age, often beginning around 30 (yes, really—the first changes are mostly metabolic though, so this is far from set in stone). Commonly-noticed changes include:

    • slower thinking
    • difficulty multitasking
    • reduced attention
    • weaker memory.

    Over time, these changes have what is believed to be a two-way association (as in, each causes/worsens the other) with changes in brain structure, especially reduced hippocampal and frontal lobe volume.

    • Gradual cognitive changes are normal with age, whereas dementia involves a pathological decline affecting memory, problem-solving, and behavior.
    • Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) involves noticeable cognitive decline without disrupting daily life, while dementia affects everyday tasks like cooking or driving.
    • Dementia causes significant impairments, including motor challenges like falls or tremors, and dementia-induced cognitive decline symptoms include forgetfulness, getting lost, personality changes, and planning difficulties, often worsening with stress or illness.

    To best avoid these, consider: regular exercise, a nutritious diet, good quality sleep, social interaction, and mentally stimulating activities.

    Also, often forgotten (in terms of its relevance at least): managing cardiovascular health is very important too. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: what’s good for your heart is good for your brain (since the former feeds the latter with oxygen and nutrients, and also takes away detritus that will otherwise build up in the brain).

    For more on all of this, enjoy:

    Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

    Want to learn more?

    You might also like to read:

    Is It Dementia? Spot The Signs (Because None Of Us Are Immune) ← we go into more specific detail here

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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