by Reed Mangels, PhD, RD
In 1975, the famend Harvard professor of Diet, Jean Mayer, wrote an opinion piece titled, “Is It Cereal or Sweet?” Dr. Mayer was questioning the observe of fortifying sugary cereals with a lot of nutritional vitamins and minerals to make them seem wholesome. He described these cereals as “sugar-coated vitamin tablets” (1).
One thing related is occurring right now with all the things beneath the solar from sweet bars to delicate drinks being fortified with protein, a nutrient that almost all People get sufficient of with out having to depend on protein-fortified gummies or related merchandise.
On a current go to to a grocery retailer, I noticed pretzels with added protein. This snack meals had 15 grams of protein in a 1 ounce serving. The place did that protein come from? In response to the ingredient label, the product contained hydrolyzed wheat protein, carob seed protein, soy protein isolate, and wheat gluten – all potential protein sources. Distinction this with an ordinary bag of grocery store pretzels which comprises 3 grams of protein in an oz of pretzels. Each sorts of pretzels have 110 energy and over 250 milligrams of sodium per serving. Pretzels generally is a respectable snack meals, albeit considerably excessive salt, however do they should have a lot of protein added?
There are different methods to get 12 grams of protein (the distinction between the protein that’s often in pretzels and the protein within the protein-fortified pretzels). All of those meals have roughly 12 grams of protein:
- ¾ cup of canned or cooked black beans, chickpeas, or pinto beans
- ⅔ cup of canned or cooked lentils
- 1-½ ounces of seitan
- ½ cup of shelled edamame
- ⅓ cup of tempeh
- ½ cup of ready textured vegetable protein
- ¼-½ cup of tofu
- 3 Tablespoons of peanut butter
- 1-½ cups of soymilk
- ¼ cup of tahini
The factor is, these meals present protein in addition to nutritional vitamins and minerals together with iron, zinc, calcium, potassium, and B-vitamins. The protein-fortified pretzels, seem to primarily comprise protein and a little bit of fiber.
To paraphrase Jean Mayer, are these pretzels or “salty protein tablets”? There are particular circumstances the place folks want quite a lot of further protein and the place a snack fortified with protein may help however, for many of us, there’s no want to purchase protein-fortified pretzels.
To learn extra about protein for vegans see:
Protein within the Vegan Weight-reduction plan
Protein for Vegans & Vegetarians
Is There Such a Factor as Too A lot Protein?
How A lot Protein Do Vegans Want?
Reference
- Moss M. Salt Sugar Fats: How the Meals Giants Hooked Us. New York: Random Home; 2013.
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