Making a patty for grilling like a hamburger is just one of the hundreds of uses for the legume known as the soybean. Veggie burgers provide complete proteins, energy and nutrition as well as, if not better than, their traditional bovine competitor.
Serving Size and Nutrition
One veggie burger patty contains about 124 calories, according to information released by the US Department of Agriculture. Forty of the calories come from fat. By way of comparison, a ground beef patty contains 193 calories, 105 of which come from fat.
Fat
A 70 g veggie burger contains 4 g of fat, one of which is saturated fat and the other three are unsaturated fat. According to Harvard nutritionist Walter Willett, the proportion of healthy unsaturated fat to harmful saturated fat is the most important information about the fat in any given food. A hamburger patty contains 11.6 g of fat, 4.4 of which are saturated fats.
Carbohydrates
A single veggie burger delivers 10 g of carbohydrates, broken down into 4 g of starch, 3.4 g of dietary fiber, 1.9 g of complex carbohydrates and 0.7 g of sugar. A beef hamburger patty, like many meats, contains no carbs.
Proteins
A veggie burger patty contains 11 g of protein; a beef patty, 20.4 g. Both provide a complete protein, one that delivers all the essential amino acids your body needs for good tissue health. Soy is unusual in that it is one of very few plants that deliver a complete protein.
Vitamins and Minerals
One veggie burger delivers more than 100 percent of your daily required thiamine intake and between 20 percent and 30 percent of your recommended folate, vitamin B12, selenium and manganese. It contains smaller, but still significant, amounts of vitamin C, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium and iron. This comes at the cost of 398 mg of sodium, about 17 percent of your daily allowance. Hamburger patties are slightly higher in some B vitamins, and lower in everything else, including sodium.
References
- "Superfoods Rx"; Steven Pratt, et al; 2004
- "National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference," U.S. Department of Education; 2009
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