Five reasons why seitan, also called “wheat meat” or vital wheat gluten is an unhealthy food that harms gut health. Consumers should be on the lookout for this stealth ingredient in sprouted bread and other “health” foods.
It never ceases to amaze me how manufacturers so brazenly play bait and switch with the food labels for their products. The latest ingredient game that educated consumers need to know about is seitan.
This is especially true for those who may be unknowingly eating it in the form of sprouted bread such as the very popular brand Ezekiel.
Seitan is “Wheat Meat”
In a nutshell, seitan is wheat meat. Wheat meat? Yes, people actually call it that! How can plant food be “meat”, you might ask? Let’s take an in-depth look at this immensely popular food ingredient with the groovy name.
So, what is this stuff? Seitan goes by many names that are all essentially the same thing:
- wheat meat
- vital wheat protein
- textured wheat protein
- wheat gluten
- organic wheat gluten
- vital gluten
- vital wheat gluten
It seems food manufacturers are springboarding off the immense success of hiding MSG in processed foods using dozens of aliases to confuse the consumer.
Masterful Marketing of a NonFood
You can see why branding gluten as seitan makes sense. It sounds rather hip, cool, whole, and healthy.
If you say “vital wheat protein” as you serve dinner, your guests may flee.
But if you say, “oh, this is just a little dish of seitan,” well, you are going to be the star!
This is especially slick marketing since gluten-containing grains aren’t all that in demand these days. Especially with the well-deserved reputation of toxic conventional wheat.
But seitan is anything but hip, cool, whole, or healthy.
Unfortunately, this ingredient is becoming more popular, especially among vegans and vegetarians who have to search high and low for sufficient dietary protein. This is especially true for plant-based diet fans who are allergic to soy. (1)
Those who espouse traditional diets are also eating it, mostly unknowingly. More on this below.
The Origins of Seitan
The Japanese word seitan is pronounced, “say-tan”.
Mmmm. Sounds a lot like the Western word “satan”.
Freudian slip on the part of manufacturers? You be the judge after reading this exposé.
The word was coined in 1961 by George Ohsawa, an advocate of the macrobiotic diet (a diet associated with extreme Vitamin D deficiency).
In 1962, wheat gluten sold as “seitan” began in Japan pioneered by Marushima Shoyu K.K.
It was introduced to the West in 1969 by the American company Erewhon.
History of Wheat Gluten as a Protein Source
Where and when did this stuff start? Interestingly, a rather long time ago, as early as the 6th century in China.
What was the main motivation? Religious groups, especially Buddhists, seeking to avoid meat were searching for a protein option to put on the table that was in line with their beliefs.
Besides being a non-meat source of protein, seitan’s other main attraction is its texture. Most meat substitutes don’t have a “meaty” texture at all. But seitan does.
Tofu, tempeh, and textured vegetable (soy) protein all make at best acceptable or endurable meat substitutes.
But seitan is different from these. It makes a rather good meat substitute, and thus, makes it all the more appealing to the unsuspecting masses.
Seitan is currently the most favored form for “mock meats.”
It is so good at being fake meat that when you look at pictures of foods made from good quality seitan, you may be hard-pressed to tell which are made from wheat and which are made from real meat. (2)
5 Reasons Seitan “Wheat Meat” is Unhealthy
So, we now know what it is, but is it good? First, seitan is basically pure wheat gluten.
For anyone with gluten/wheat issues, seitan is the satan of all foods.
It represents the purest and most potent form of gluten for those who are sensitive.
I wonder if its growing popularity at certain restaurants (especially vegan, vegetarian, and Asian) raises significant issues or problems with possible cross-contamination for those who are sensitive or allergic to gluten?
Second, this stuff is highly processed with a capital “P”. You can’t just isolate the gluten fraction of wheat with ease.
This processing also means many brands of seitan contain lots of other stuff, like very large amounts of added sodium, MSG, and other food additives.
Third, while it is high in protein, it is an incomplete and unbalanced source of this important macronutrient.
Seitan is very low in lysine and ultimately considered a source of low-quality protein even by the most forgiving of critics.
Being low in this amino acid is especially problematic and concerning if you are eating seitan as your primary source of protein with few other protein-rich foods in your diet. (3)
Fourth, if it is made from conventional wheat, it thus has been exposed to all the pesticides, herbicides, and other Big Ag chemicals that modern wheat production depends on.
Organic seitan would be better in this regard, but that doesn’t undo the issues listed above.
Finally, seitan made Shape magazine’s list of the top seven foods even nutritionists won’t eat. (4)
Wow, if nutritionists won’t eat this stuff most who still think a frankenfood like margarine is healthy, that is saying something!
No wonder food manufacturers are so desperate to hide its presence on the label using a myriad of other names!
Vital Wheat Gluten: Where it Hides in Your Food
In closing, let’s consider who is consuming this low-quality wheat by-product whether consciously or unwittingly.
A lot of bread makers use seitan even health food store brands. Many modern breads add additional “vital gluten” to improve the rise, texture, and elasticity of the bread.
It also gives the loaf integrity while shipping long distances and for stacking in warehouses.
Watch out for Sprouted Breads!
This is especially true, and maddeningly so, for expensive sprouted bread.
The popular brand Food For Life’s Ezekiel bread is guilty of this bait and switch perhaps more than any other commercial bread. (5)
Ezekiel markets its bread as “healthier” by using sprouted flour (which breaks down gluten to make it more digestible), charges an arm and a leg for a loaf, and then turns around and adds back the wheat gluten.
Talk about one step forward and three steps back!
The scam is reminiscent of the fake sourdough bread that seems to be everywhere too.
Watch out for “vital wheat gluten”, “organic wheat gluten”, or anything “gluten” in the ingredients of “healthy” bread choices.
If you are looking for a REAL sprouted loaf with NO wheat gluten, I recommend this sprouted loaf from a family bakery that will ship to your door.
Ultimately, wheat gluten as a food ingredient should have no appeal, organic or not, to consumers educated about traditional foods and gut health.
Reading food labels very closely is necessary to avoid it as it is increasingly appearing in pseudo-traditional foods that those in the health food community think are the real thing and are bringing into their homes.
(1) What is Seitan?
(2) What the Heck is Seitan, Really?
(3) Seitan vs Meat
(4) 7 Foods a Nutritionist Would Never Eat
(5) Food for Life (Ezekiel Bread) Containing Wheat Gluten
Um care to provide any evidence to support “This is why most vegans develop serious issues from amino acid imbalance over time “?
How about that nearly 80% of vegetarians/vegans return to eating meat within a few years … primarily due to declining health??? Meat contains perfectly balanced amino acid content for human health. Trying to get this through plants alone is very difficult. Without the right balance of amino acids, failing health is the result with horrible dental problems emerging as a typical result of veganism.
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/most-vegetarians-return-to-eating-meat/
I am not gluten sensitive but I had a terrible reaction to bread that contained vital wheat gluten.
And I know it was that because I have eaten all the other ingredients on different days and didn’t have a reaction. Then tried the sprouted grain bread again some 5 days later and had another reaction again. But I have had other breads with wheat gluen in them and not had the terrible reaction. I have done an elimination diet in the past with a naturopath so know what I am talking about.
Thanks for this article. I am feeding the rest of the loaf to the animals outside.
Gluten is simply the protein that is present in wheat flour and bread. There are types of fiber that are indigestible to humans, but proteins of all types are very easy for humans to digest. And some plants have so much indigestible fiber that it makes the protein in them impossible to digest. But gluten, being pure protein for the most part, is just as easy to digest as any other source of protein that humans eat. It would be very bad for celiacs and those with intolerance of course, they wouldn’t get anything from it and in fact may lose nutrients if it makes them sick from both ends.
Seitán is made the same way as making homemade bread. The only difference is that the dough is kneaded under cool water for a few minutes to wash away the starch. What is left behind is the protein in the wheat which is then steamed for an hour to make seitán. There is no real difference between eating bread and eating seitán other than taste and it having a higher protein to carb ratio. The gluten they sell in the store is the same one as above, just dehydrated (like flour).
For anyone spouting rubbish about plant proteins not containing a full gamete of amino acids, I add the following phrase: a full and varied diet.
We, as a whole, vegetarians, vegans and meat eaters alike, eat so much rubbish in our diets due to the ongoing corporatisation of our diets, that arguing about Seetanah or any other food seems trivial.
And to be completely honest, if living a life that lessens an impact on the life and death of fellow animals means I miss a few nutrients, which I dispute, so be it.
Sarah, your comment saying there are no plants that contain all 9 essential amino acids is just plain wrong. Have you heard of hemp protien powder? Chia seeds? Pumpkin and squash seeds? Quinoa? Buckwheat? Spirulina? All of these are complete proteins that are healthy for you. Where do you live, under a rock? If you are pro-meat, that’s great, but stop with the biased comments on this unfortunate and misinformed article.
Here’s what plant based diet fans are missing about their plant protein. Even if a plant food contains all the essential amino acids, NONE of them contain all of them in sufficient quantity to support human health as a standalone source. So, my statement that no plant food contains all the essential amino acids is correct. If you don’t believe it, try just eating hemp protein powder or chia seeds as your ONLY protein source for awhile. See what terrible deficiencies and inflammation develop as a result.
This is why most vegans develop serious issues from amino acid imbalance over time even when they try to eat a variety of plant proteins. It’s a crapshoot whether they are doing it correctly. Eating protein from an animal source not only contains ALL the essential amino acids, but contains them in sufficient amounts to serve as a single protein source. It is much less risky including at least some animal foods in the diet like ALL healthy ancestral cultures did to avoid the issues from a plants only diet.
Yes, this. Aside from keeping the “complimentary amino acids” rule in mind when meeting your needs with non-animal based protein, I find the other arguments presented in this article somewhat spurious and generically applicable to a wide variety of foods.
Everything you said I was thinking while I was reading this poor article. Homemade seitan is easy to make and very affordable for those who want to avoid meat but still miss the texture and variety it can provide.
I am a nutritionist and I don’t tell people they should avoid it but just have it as part of a healthy diet.
As a nutritionist, you should know that seitan cannot be part of a “healthy diet” as it is virtually indigestible even for those with decent gut health! Shame on you!
So Gluten is bad for people with gluten intolerance. Who knew? If you don’t want highly processed Seitan, you can make it at home. Exactly the same argument applies to any highly Processed food, with a capital P. Seitan is low in lysine. just as every grain is. So are nuts. Should we avoid them too? Hence the traditional combinations of grain and legumes, dhal and rice, rice and peas, beans on toast. corn and kidney beans. Beans have more lysine, but are low in methionine. Should we avoid them? Any non-organic food product will have the same ag chemical issues. What Shape (whoever they are) says about Seitan, is that ‘While there is no research linking seitan intake to increased prevalence of gluten allergies or intolerances, I’m wary that eating a lot of this allergenic protein may trigger development of a more severe gluten allergy or intolerance.’ A small amount of Seitan, for variety, texture, whatever, is fine. A lot may not be. Same as any other food. How about an article about lectins? Should we avoid lectin containing food? If we avoided all the foods some group or doctor says we should, we’d be on plain water.
Forgot to mention, not only have I been a very healthy vegetarian for 15 years, I also grew a healthy baby while vegetarian. No problems at all. He’s a healthy 13 year old now ????❤️
Many commenters fail to make a distinction between vegan and vegetarian. A vegetarian diet includes protein sources such an eggs and dairy products. A vegan diet does not. Sarah is talking about veganism.