AIBU to ask if Quorn is healthy or unhealthy....

[loveyouradvice]

I've a 15 year old DD who wants to be veggie...and adores Quorn. We're cooking lots with it and seems surprisingly versatile ... love Bolognese sauce made with it

But friends have told us to find out what's really in it and that we should avoid it if we want to eat healthily

I'd just thought low-fat mushroomy thing - seems brilliant invention

Whats so bad about it?

Easy Asian*

Fuck sake! East**

@FluffyWuffy100

Quorn is fine. Some people are intolerant, but some people are intolerant to all kinds of things.

I strongly suspect that the level of adverse responses to Quorn is far higher than that of anything else that is supposedly safe to eat.

Soy/processed soy is also perfectly fine unless you’re allergic. Easy asian people are some of the healthiest on earth and they eat loads of soy.

Most also eat meat 3 times a day (albeit in small quantities).

I strongly suspect that the level of adverse responses to Quorn is far higher than that of anything else that is supposedly safe to eat.

Given that government stats are that 1 in 100 have celiac disease and 1 in 55 have a nut allergy I very much doubt it.

I think it's pretty much common knowledge that nut allergies have increased dramatically in recent years. However as nut allergies are sometimes life-threatening, are more common in children and are far more likely to be discovered and reported than adverse responses to Quorn, it's quite possible that there is in fact more than 1 in 55 who have an adverse response to Quorn.

Ditto celiac disease.

Ok, you have an issue with Quorn, many don’t. If it makes you ill, don’t eat it. Easy peasy.

If the high incidence of adverse reactions to Quorn were more well known then people would be more cautious about eating it and serving it to others. I only tried it once and that was over a decade ago however the experience was so revolting that I'm still aggrieved. The fault lies with Quorn and to a lesser extent its apologists.

Vegetarians then taking the moral high ground just adds insult to injury. Toxic, processed, non-food is healthier and tastier than meat? Even on the rare occasions I've eaten processed meat it hasn't tasted as bad or affected me as badly as that revolting Quorn poison.

I look forward to the day when the public realises how toxic that garbage actually is.

So you ate something once, a decade ago, and you got ill.

You need to get over it.

When the risks of eating this crap become public knowledge, accompanied by warnings on all packaging, then it will be time for me to 'get over it'.

Hi my dp is vegetarian and so I cook this type of food a lot.

Would she like tofu I feel it has to be eaten a few times before you actually like it. I grate the tofu and fry it till slightly crispy then add it to sauces for example Thai green curry with chickpeas it's lovely

You had an allergic reaction possibly to something you ate once.
DH gets a severe allergic reaction to a certain type of mushroom. So he doesn’t eat that mushroom. It doesn’t mean he is demanding that all packs of that mushroom have a warning.

People are allergic to all kinds of stuff.

You're in denial Simon. Yes people have allergic responses to all sorts of things but, as I have already stated: I strongly suspect that the level of adverse responses to Quorn is far higher than that of anything else that is supposedly safe to eat.

Let's take an extreme hypothetical case: 40% of humans are allergic to a particular food stuff (that also happens to be highly processed). The majority can eat it fine, but do you think it would be wise for it to be sold without people knowing the dangers?

I'm not suggesting the rate of 40% applies to Quorn however I do believe that the % of people having bad reactions to it is sufficiently high for there to be public warnings about it.

cspinet.org/eating-healthy/foods-avoid/quorn

I strongly suspect that the level of adverse responses to Quorn is far higher than that of anything else that is supposedly safe to eat.
On what basis?

I look forward to the day when the public realises how toxic that garbage actually is.

Omg. How o.t.t. 😂

I eat it without any adverse reaction.
Many other people eat it without any adverse reaction.

I’ll live my life and you live yours

On what basis?

On the basis that

1. I can eat pretty much anything without a problem - except Quorn. Not in itself proof of anything but then
2. Whenever the topic appears online there are always plenty of comments from people about adverse reactions.
3. And according to cspinet.org/eating-healthy/foods-avoid/quorn, bad reactions to Quorn have been in existence ever since its invention.

The apologists seem to be arguing: so what if lots of people react badly to it, whilst Rank Hovis McDougall, Imperial Chemical Industries (both previous owners of Quorn) and Monde Nissin Corporation (present owners) have thus far managed to avoid being held accountable for that? Ultimately it's vegetarian which means it stops animals from losing their lives, so covering up human suffering is morally justifiable.

All I'm asking is that consumers be made aware of the significant risks of consuming such a product.

You're mad. What significant risks? If you're unlucky you'll have an upset stomach and be absolutely fine the next day and that'll be the end of it. You're making out as though eating Quorn causes early death or something. I like many people have been eating it for years without any adverse effects.

If you were talking about red meat which is a carcinogen that is in the same cancer causing category as tobacco I would agree with you.

We have a fair amount of it but I really have my doubts about it-it seems so extremely processed. Unfortunately my husband refuses to eat meat (despite wearing leather, drinking milk, eating eggs etc) and needs a lot of protein (very big man) so he can't really manage without. I'm just hoping that it won't do him any damage and sticking to real food for my DC and myself (theDC eat meat so no issues for them).

You're mad. What significant risks? If you're unlucky you'll have an upset stomach and be absolutely fine the next day and that'll be the end of it.

Reactions include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and occasionally hives or difficulty breathing. Given the large number of people who react in this way, that makes the risk significant.

I wouldn't feed it to my worst enemy. Still, not your problem - so therefore it's unimportant.

I find the idea of quorn generally not very appealing. and I did know how it was created.

It’s does say on the packets that it can cause an allergic reaction. —just like damn near anything else—

1. I can eat pretty much anything without a problem - except Quorn. Not in itself proof of anything but then
No, not proof of anything other than that you appear to have a reaction to Quorn.

2. Whenever the topic appears online there are always plenty of comments from people about adverse reactions.
That would be anecdata.

3. And according to cspinet.org/eating-healthy/foods-avoid/quorn, bad reactions to Quorn have been in existence ever since its invention.
That is not an unbiased, reliable source, and whilst if you search Quorn on their site you get three pages of results, most of those results are articles or letters produced by cspi themselves saying that Quorn is dangerous. There are only a handful of mentions of actual research papers on the site.

If you search for actual research into the potential dangers of Quorn, the picture is not the alarming one cspi paint.

What 'actual research' are you referring to? The one referred to here, where nearly 5 percent of the 200 participants reported feeling ill after eating several “test meals,” according to the study, which was obtained by The Washington Post. Four had “more severe reactions,” including two who started to “vomit violently,” another who became “violently sick” and another who “experienced nausea and vomiting” after eating Quorn products that contain mycoprotein. www.washingtonpost.com/national/food-additives-on-the-rise-as-fda-scrutiny-wanes/2014/08/17/828e9bf8-1cb2-11e4-ab7b-696c295ddfd1_story.html?utm_term=.03ee253a564d

Or these ones: Independent researchers also published three papers in academic journals, between 2003 and 2009, describing severe and even life-threatening allergic reactions to mycoprotein.

No - you're just interested in the corporations behind Quorn telling you it's safe to eat.

Incidentally CSPI is a non-profit watchdog and consumer advocacy group, and their concerns should not be dismissed simply because you have decided they are biased.

Talking of bias: do you need to declare that you work for Monde Nissin Corporation?

Well, this thread took a turn for the crazy...

Whenever the topic appears online there are always plenty of comments from people about adverse reactions.

There was a Mumsnet thread on milk the other day with lots of people claiming that no adults should drink it because it 'obviously' will be bad for you and cause digestive problems. If you set up a post about any food you'll attract people with a bad reaction to it disproportionately. That proves nothing.

Do you often find yourself becoming this obsessive and fixated on things?