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The manufacturers of plant-based meat substitutes have done quite a bit of work to make their products as meat-like as possible. That includes adding beet or berry extracts to imitate blood and upping the protein content using sources like soy, mushrooms and mung beans.
"But foods are much more complicated than that," said Stephan van Vliet, a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Molecular Physiology Institute. "They contain several thousands of metabolites and nutrients that are potentially capable of impacting human health and metabolism."
Metabolites are substances made or used when the body breaks down things like food or its own tissue, like fat or muscle, in the process known as metabolism.