When You Eat Impossible Meat Daily, This Is What Really Happens To Your Body

Impossible meat products are taking the world by storm, which is really further proof that a revolution is happening — and in your very own kitchen. With more and more people turning away from meat and embracing plant-based alternatives for beef and chicken, the non-meat market has exploded. And meat substitutes aren't just for vegetarians or vegans anymore — particularly when it comes to non-meat substitutes for products such as burgers.

According to data collected by The NPD Group, a market research firm, 89 percent of people who buy plant-based meat and dairy alternatives aren't doing it for any particular dietary imperative — they're just doing it because they want to switch it up (via NBC News). Before long, Impossible meat became one of the most visible players in this market, promising a burger that tastes and looks just like the real thing.

But if you pick up a pack of Impossible Burgers next time you're at the store, what would you be getting with each bite — and what would happen to your body if you ate the meat alternative every day? At Health Digest, we wanted to find out. Let's take a deep dive into the world of Impossible meat, and find out if it meats the standards of good health (sorry, we couldn't resist). Let's go!

You might consider switching away from beef burgers as a step toward a lower-fat and healthier diet, and you'd generally be right — unless you're replacing them with Impossible products. Although Impossible meat doesn't contain animal fats, it still has a pretty high fat content — and that includes saturated fats (via Harvard Health Blog).

According to Harvard Health Blog, the difference in fat between an Impossible Burger and an 85 percent lean ground beef burger of the same size is minimal: A beef burger contains 17 grams of fat, while an Impossible Burger contains 14 grams. What's more concerning, though, is that the saturated fat content is higher in an Impossible Burger — at 8 grams per serving compared to a beef burger's 6 grams.

According to dietitians, this isn't great news. As Julieanna Hever, a plant-based dietitian and the author of Plant Based Nutrition (Idiot's Guides), said to CBNC, "They're not much healthier than a meat-based burger." She continued, saying, "I'm concerned about the saturated fat levels." Her concern is certainly warranted, as saturated fat has been linked with premature death (via The Nutrition Source).

If you've ever spent an evening doubled over a toilet seat due to eating some questionable gas-station hot dogs (we're not saying we've done that...), you'll know how grim food poisoning can be. If you've traded out your meat products for Impossible meat every day, though, you may not have to worry about this as much.

Generally, food poisoning occurs in your body when you eat undercooked or improperly cooked food that has been contaminated by bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. The most likely sources of food to be contaminated are raw animal products, like raw or undercooked meat or poultry (via CDC). Food poisoning can range from loss of appetite and weakness to nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal cramps, as Healthline explained.

If you're a frequent eater of meat, your risk of food poisoning is, naturally, higher. And, of course, by switching over to plant-based meat substitutes, like Impossible Burgers, you'd reduce your risk of food poisoning due to the lower likelihood of bacteria like E. coli and salmonella being present in the food. "If someone had concerns around the safety of consuming undercooked meat, especially if cooking equipment is lacking or the cleanliness of an operation is questionable, then the meat substitute might be the better choice," registered dietitian nutritionist Debbie Petitpain told Today's Dietitian.

Although red meat is primarily known for being high in B vitamins, zinc, and iron, one lesser-known vitamin that meat can supply your body with is vitamin K2. If you're switching from beef to eating Impossible meat on the reg, it's important to consider other ways to get this vitamin.

Vitamin K2 is particularly important for cardiovascular health and bone health, as it corrects calcium amounts in the body, as shown in a 2015 study published by Integrative Medicine: A Clinician's Journal. However, according to Today's Dietitian, deficiencies in K2 can be a fairly common occurrence. This isn't good news if you're switching from red meat to Impossible Burgers. As Healthline illustrated, Impossible Burgers don't contain vitamin K2, whereas beef burgers do.

Therefore, if you're making the switch, incorporate other dietary sources of vitamin K2 to make sure that you're getting the levels you need to keep your body functioning. Non-meat sources of foods like cheese, butter, and egg yolks contain levels of K2. If you're vegan or are looking to avoid animal products altogether, try sauerkraut or natto, as both are great sources of K2 (via WebMD).

Although dialogue around building muscle is usually dominated by talk of protein-heavy diets, some meat substitutes are more than capable of supplying the nutrients your body needs to get stronger. A 4-ounce Impossible Burger contains 19 grams of protein, which makes it a great way to boost your intake. With protein being particularly important for muscle synthesis, the process by which your muscles repair and strengthen after exercise, Impossible Burgers can hold their own when it comes to supplying your body with what it requires for strength-building.

What's also important is the type of protein in the "meat." Impossible Burgers gets their protein from soy. And soy is an excellent source of amino acids, organic compounds that act as the building blocks of muscle, help reduce muscle breakdown, and help improve athletic performance (via WebMD).

Ryan D. Andrews, sports nutritionist and author of A Guide to Plant-based Eating, told Muscle & Fitness, "Soy is a dense source of amino acids that builds muscle just as well as meat." So if you're trying to get ripped, subbing out meat for Impossible Burgers daily might just help.

When you think of iron, you may think of juicy, rare, red meat. The thought of replacing a well-known source of iron with a non-meat substitute might have you wondering how much iron you'll be missing out on. Interestingly, though, Impossible Burgers are actually higher in iron, gram by gram, than regular beef. According to Good Housekeeping's side-by-side nutritional analysis of a 4-ounce Impossible Burger and a 4-ounce regular beef patty, the non-meat version provided 25 percent of your recommended daily iron intake compared to beef's 17 percent.

The iron in the Impossible Burger comes from an iron-rich protein found in soy plants called "heme," or soy leghemoglobin — which is also, according to Impossible Foods, what makes the Impossible meat taste so much like regular meat.

When consumed, iron helps with red blood cell production and works to prevent anemia, which can impact our energy levels and immune system (via Medical News Today). If you've started replacing your regular beef burgers with Impossible Burgers, you won't have to worry about your iron intake.

Impossible meat is considered processed food, which means it goes through a fair few stages before reaching your dinner table. This also means there are several additives in the product. Although not all processed foods are automatically bad for you, it's worth noting that the list of additives that end up in Impossible products is fairly extensive. And with about 20 ingredients going into an Impossible Burger, it's far from a whole food source.

Although food additives and ingredients are carefully regulated, the number of ingredients causes concern for Rachel Fine, a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of To the Pointe Nutrition in New York City, who made the point that switching to plant-based foods to improve nutrition can sometimes be hampered by choosing heavily processed plant-based options.

As Fine told HuffPost, "One thing I always tell clients is when you're looking at plant-based foods, look for ingredients high on the list that are whole foods. The problem with a lot of additives is that we just don't know the long-term effects of them, whereas a beef burger could just be one ingredient: beef."