If you have looked at nutrition labels before you know that they usually lead with total fat. Beyond Meat has conveniently omitted this line item.
Fortunately, it can be back calculated. Fat has 9 calories per gram so with 170 calories coming from fat that is about 19 grams of which 5 are saturated. It is extremely high in both fat and saturated fat. 63% of total calories come from fat.
This is based on a 4oz serving.
beef;
Real beef has substantially less fat at 12.5 grams per 4 ounce serving. About 47% of calories come from fat in real beef as opposed to 63% for Beyond Meat. Beef is also lower calorie coming in at 242.7 compared to 270 for the same 4 ounces of Beyond Meat.
Nutritionally, the benefit to having meat in one’s diet is primarily the high-quality protein that is rich in essential amino acids. Beef is well-known as a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids in balanced concentrations. Pea protein, such as that used in Beyond Meat, is a reasonably good substitute as a mostly complete protein. The problem here is the macronutrient ratios.
- Eating real beef, one gets 30.7 grams of protein per 12.5 grams of fat; a decent ratio.
- Eating Beyond Meat, one gets 20 grams of protein per 19 grams of fat; a poor ratio.
Essentially real beef is lower-calorie, higher-protein and lower fat. In my opinion, real beef is the healthier option and that is sad because real beef is not a particularly healthy food.