Feel Full with Plant Protein

Plant based meals may be effective in increasing fullness

Cheeseburger or veggie burger – when considering which will fill you up more, is it even debatable?  Well, a group of Czech researchers designed a study to test exactly that.  They worked with 60 men including men that were healthy, men with type two diabetes (T2D) or men with obesity.  Men were provided with either a processed meat and cheese burger or a plant based tofu burger that were of equal weight (200g) and calories (514).   Protein, carbohydrate and fat were equal in the two burgers, while the meat burger as you may expect, had more saturated fat (6g) while the tofu burger had more fiber (almost 6g). 

After a 10 hour fast, participants were randomly provided one of the burgers and satiety hormones (GLP-1, Amylin and PYY) were measured at intervals up to three hours after the meal. Participants also self-reported fullness using a visual analog scale at the same intervals.  After two days, all participants had both burgers.  Interestingly, all men reported feeling more full after the tofu burger, when compared to the meat burger.  Satiety hormones were observed to follow suit and increased in all men after the tofu burger; however those with T2D had the most significant upsurges. 

What does this mean?  Researchers attribute increased dietary fiber and plant polyphenols with improving satiety and related hormones.  More research is needed as this was one study, which only  focused on one meal, however findings suggest that the plant based meals may be an effective tool in increasing the feeling of fullness.

Tofu is one plant protein alternative, and there are other delicious and affordable options like lentils, chickpeas and other beans.  So if you’re considering your plant burger options, our Chickpea burgers with pineapple sauce and Red Lentil “Burgers” are worth adding to your list.  And remember to keep an open mind; it could take a few trials before you find your favorite recipe!