With a current market value of $4.5 billion and distribution in over 17,000 restaurants (1) as well as grocery stores, the Impossible Burger is getting the attention of the cattle ranchers in a way that Tofurkey never did. But is the Impossible Burger good for you?

The Mission Behind the Impossible Burger

Note that Impossible Meat CEO Patrick Brown didn’t set out to create the world’s healthiest alternative burger when he founded the company in 2011 and introduced the first burger in 2016. His goal was to end the use of animals to make food and to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with traditional animal agriculture. With that in mind, the MD, PhD Brown designed a burger to satisfy meat lovers, not vegetarians who had been the audience for meatless products in the past.

Key Ingredient

The ingredient that makes the Impossible Burger “bleed” like a beef burger is Heme. It’s found in animal flesh but can also be made from the roots of soy plants. Heme received FDA approval in July, 2019. The other main ingredients are water, soy protein concentrate, coconut oil, sunflower oil and natural flavor. That’s a lot of oil by intent, to more closely simulate the high-fat taste of beef. However, the Impossible Burger 2.0 was redesigned to be lower in fat as well as gluten free.

Nutritional Value

Here is how the Impossible Burger 2.0 stacks up against similar-sized meat and non-meat products. The Food Grade is from the MyNetDiary app and is based on nutritional value compared to fat and sodium content.

The Top Takeaway

If you want to go meatless, the Impossible Burger is worth a try, especially since it has been reformulated with less fat. However, don’t simply choose it because it’s “healthier” than meat or some of the excellent non-meat products already on the market.