Real meat and plant-based meat analogues have different in vitro protein digestibility properties

To explore the nutritional values of meat and meat analogues, the in vitro protein digestion of pork, beef, plant-based pork and beef were evaluated. In the gastric phase, the digestibility of pork was significantly higher than that of the plant-based pork, while the value of beef was lower than that of the plant-based beef. In the intestinal phase, both pork and beef showed higher digestibility than plant-based meat analogues. A greater number of small molecular peptides were identified from pork and beef than from plant-based meat after gastrointestinal digestion. Larger quantities of potential bioactive peptides were released from the meat than from the plant-based meat analogues during digestion. These differences were closely related to protein secondary structure, the formation of disulfide bonds and apparent viscosity of digestion solution. The findings give a new insight into the underlying mechanisms of the different phenotype responses of consumers to meat and plant-based meat.

Automated summary

In this study, the in vitro protein digestion of pork, beef, plant-based pork, and plant-based beef were evaluated to explore their nutritional values. The digestibility of pork was significantly higher than plant-based pork in the gastric phase, while beef had a lower digestibility than plant-based beef. In the intestinal phase, both pork and beef showed higher digestibility than plant-based meat analogues. More small molecular peptides and potential bioactive peptides were identified from pork and beef compared to plant-based meat analogues during gastrointestinal digestion. These differences were closely related to protein secondary structure, disulfide bond formation, and apparent viscosity of the digestion solution.