How fast is society’s meat consumption evolving?

An Australian survey has revealed that although attitudes towards meat are changing, it could still be a long time before we ditch hamburgers for plant-based alternatives.

Carried out by food marketing expert Ellen Goddard at the University of Alberta, Canada, along with researchers from the University of Adelaide, Australia, the survey asked a nationally-representative sample of 287 Australian meat-eaters about their levels of willingness to make changes to their protein consumption.


In particular, participants were asked how willing they would be to reduce their meat consumption, to follow a meat-free diet most of the time, to avoid meat altogether, or to follow a strict plant-based with no animal products at all.

The findings, published in the journal Appetite, showed that participants had “varying levels of willingness to make changes to their protein consumption.”

More specifically, nearly half of those surveyed (46%) were unwilling to make changes to how much meat they eat, while 22% said they would be willing to reduce their meat consumption, but not go meat-free most of the time.

Only 15% said they would be willing to go meat-free, and the remaining 17% were undecided.


The findings come as plant-based protein alternatives like Beyond Meat hamburgers are surging in popularity, and popping up on the menus of big-name restaurants and fast food outlets. However, despite many people reducing their meat intake to benefit their health and the environment, the findings suggest that changing meat-eating habits could be a longer and slower process than first thought.


“The new products are not being developed for vegans or vegetarians, they are already convinced,” Goddard explained. “The products are important to encourage the rest of us to try, and perhaps like meat-free meals.”

“One of the things we found in our study was that committed meat-eaters often considered food choices in vegetarian or vegan diets to be inadequate and unpalatable, so these products might help change that perception.”

Goddard noted that the results, plus unpublished data that she has from a Canadian survey which shows similar findings, suggest that it could take years before the majority of us change our attitudes to meat.

Sven Anders, a University of Alberta food economist who was not involved in the study, commented that he is unsurprised by the findings.

“There is a very large body of economic and social science research that shows food choices are driven by habits established over our lifetime,” he explained. “What a person ate growing up will be one of the biggest determinants of an adult’s diet, and changing these habits takes time.” HM/NVG

source: technology.inquirer.net

Protein alternatives whet investors’ appetites

Cell-cultured meat, plant-based foie gras, algae milk and seaweed caviar are just some of the increasingly sophisticated alternative protein options flooding the market — and whetting investors’ appetites.

“For every company that’s looking for money, there are two or three investors. I’ve never seen that in Silicon Valley,” said Olivia Fox Cabane, founder of the Kind Earth startup and chair of the International Alliance for Alternative Protein.

Fox Cabane says she needs to update her list every other week and likens the dynamism of the alternative protein market to the buzz around social networks when they began to monopolize attention.

Beyond California, the early innovators are in the Netherlands, the birthplace of meat and other animal product alternatives, and in Israel.

Consumer demand is driving market interest in meat alternatives, according to participants in this week’s South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, which sees itself at the forefront of new trends.

New technology has refined alternative protein products for a broader public, according to Dan Altschuler Malek, a venture partner in the investing group New Crop Capital.

“Vegan food has been around for decades, since the late 60s, early 70s. At first, it was for ethical consumers who were willing to sacrifice,” said Altschuler Malek.

“We had to wait for the 90s for it to become more palatable. But now it’s a third generation with new technologies and the consumer does not have to sacrifice taste any more: people are just enjoying it because it’s good, not because it’s plant-based.”

For investors, taste has been the biggest factor in deciding whether to support a product. Price, says Altschuler Malek, comes second.

Mainstream in five years?

To make sure they don’t get left by the wayside, most of the major agribusiness groups have started investing in new proteins.

Even Tyson Foods, the second largest meat producer in the United States and the world’s biggest exporter of American beef, has joined the fray.

Impossible Foods is among several firms including California rival Beyond Meat developing plant-based or lab-grown meat substitutes that claim to offer products equal to or better than animal protect.

The company uses wheat protein, potato protein and coconut oil, and its “special ingredient” called heme which has elements of the hemoglobin in animal protein but is developed from soy.

There is much progress still to be made, including developing the logistics to offer these products on a large scale and providing substitutes to other commonly purchased meat products.

Altschuler Malek, for example, would like to be able to sell vegetarian “pork chops.”

He says a new tomato-based substitute for red tuna meat has the same texture and taste as the “real thing” used in Japanese sushi.

He believes that the new foods will no longer be seen as alternatives in five years but the norm, found “in every fridge.”

Most meat alternatives are primarily made with soy, peas, chickpeas and wheat gluten, but algae and mushrooms are also showing promise.

Insects, although favored by some startups, weren’t a hit with investors in Austin.

In addition to problems of health regulations, it would be quite a leap for the general consumer population to acquire a taste for anything with six legs.

Insect-based protein “might be more acceptable in some parts of the world, but I don’t think the average Western consumer will be going en masse to buy that kind of product,” said Andrew Ive, managing director Big Idea Ventures. NVG

source: lifestyle.inquirer.net

'Biological clock' is linked to heart attacks

Ventricular arrhythmia, or abnormal heartbeat, occurs most frequently after waking in the morning -- and also to a lesser degree in the evening hours -- and causes a high number of deaths.

Reporting in the journal Nature, researchers in the United States said they had uncovered the first molecular link between this risk and circadian rhythm, the term by which biological processes vary according to a 24-hour period.

The finger points at levels of a protein called Klf15, they said.

Previous research has found Klf15 to be a circadian controller -- and, startlingly, is also lacking among some patients with heart failure.

The team created mice that had been genetically engineered to either lack Klf15 or make the protein excessively.

In both cases, the rodents had a much higher risk of arrythmias compared to normal counterparts.

"It is the first example of a molecular mechanism for the circadian change in susceptibility to cardiac arrhythmias," said Xander Wehrens of Baylor College School of Medicine in Houston, Texas.

"If there was too much Klf15 or none, the mice were at risk for developing the arrhythmia."

Klf15 is only one step in a complex molecular cascade, the researchers believe.

It controls another protein, KChIP2, which affects potassium-generated electrical current that flows though heart muscle cells called cardiac myocytes.

When levels of KChIP2 fluctuate, this causes electrical instability in the myocytes.

As a result, the heart muscle's action becomes impaired and it takes longer (or conversely, less time) to empty the ventricle -- the heart's pumping chamber. The heart loses the regularity of the beat and labours to pump blood efficiently.

Co-author Mukesh Jain of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio said that further work could well uncover other circadian-related causes.

The discovery opens up intriguing paths of research, in pinpointing individuals at risk of nocturnal death and devising drugs to shield them, Jain added. — Agence France Presse

source: gmanetwork.com

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