The weird subsection of Americans who think eating soy-based products somehow makes you weaker is really not going like this: a researcher used a variety of factors to determine which food was the best protein source. Tofu was the clear winner, and it wasn’t even close.
In a study published in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, Dr. Chris Macdonald created the BPI Score, a rating system that puts a variety of popular high-protein foods under the microscope to determine which one comes out on top after a variety of factors are taken into consideration.
The short version of the results is that plant-based proteins were all at the top and animal-based proteins were mostly at the bottom, with a couple of exceptions.
This, of course, raises the question of the criteria on which these 20 popular high-protein foods were judged. There are two primary BPI score categories: a People Score (focused on stuff like cholesterol content, saturated fat, sodium content, etc.) and Planet Score (considers the protein’s impact on climate change, land use, pollution, etc.).
Tofu Just Beat Meat in a New Study Ranking the Best Protein Sources
Tofu destroyed the competition, coming out on top in 36 out of a possible 40 points on the scale. At the opposite side of the spectrum was cheddar cheese, which scored a measly 13 points. Let’s all give cheddar cheese a polite round of applause for still being an odd but delicious complement to a crunchy Taco Bell taco.
To understand why tofu blew out the competition, you have to consider the whole, visually off-putting slab of white, gelatinous goo. The BPI score scales everything per 100 grams of protein, meaning beef emits about 100 times more greenhouse gases than tofu and uses way more land. Pair that with the fact that tofu is a fine source of protein, packing all nine essential amino acids and zero cholesterol, and it makes sense why, all things considered, tofu is the protein champion of the world.
Overall, plant-based proteins dominated animal-based proteins, with only chicken breast and tuna cracking the top 10, and even then they ranked in the back half, at numbers seven and eight, respectively.
There are some points of contention, like the study’s use of UK grocery prices, which makes sense since the researcher is from the UK and received funding from two UK universities, including the University of Cambridge. But since he didn’t even factor in ethical issues like farm animal welfare, it’s safe to say animal protein got lucky.
It could’ve been an even bigger blowout.
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