Can Rapeseed Replace Soy in Meatless Burgers?

Soy regularly used to create meat substitute products, but will a new study open the door to enriching the human diet with new protein sources?

At the moment, soy is considered the best plant-based source of protein as it contains essential amino acids that your body can’t synthesize by itself. Nutrition scientists at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg conducted a study to see if rapeseed has the potential to become a successful alternative to soy.

The study was designed the way that researchers “were able to assess the acute metabolic response of each study participant to the dietary treatments,” said authors. The analysis showed rapeseed protein and soy protein had a very similar impact on participants’ metabolic parameters and cardiovascular risk factors. 

Although, rapeseed protein might be a better choice, because:

• Compared to soy protein, it produced a slightly more beneficial insulin response in the body.
• It helped study participants feeling fuller for a longer, compared to when they had a soy meal.

Its production is eco-friendly. Currently, rapeseed is cultivated in Europe to extract rapeseed oil, and the by-products of this process can be used to create protein-rich foods for people. 

The possible weak spot of rapeseed is that it has a mustard flavor, but overall “rapeseed appears to be a valuable alternative to soy in the human diet,” says nutritionist Christin Volk.

Source:

Rapeseed instead of soy burgers: researchers identify a new source of protein for humans