But you're arguing something different now. Regardless of subjective opinion, the bottom line is salt IS optional.

This whole thread is talking about BeyondMeat burgers.

If you're comparing the healthiness of a premade vegan burger patty, you need to compare it to a premade (or equivalent homemmade) beef patty. You can't take salt out of the beef patty comparison and say "look it's better"

Edit: But you can compare it to actual products on shelves. The first frozen burger brand I can think of that would be a good comparison is frozen Bubba burger. If we compare the sodium content, Beyond patty is 3-4x higher in sodium. Beef wins! :) Although Beyond has half the fat.

It's also good for the texture if you let if rest in the fridge for a couple hours before cooking.

Yes but that would make it "unhealthy" for many Americans. So for the health-conscious eater, the real hamburger wins.

Salt is not a health concern unless you specifically have a specific subset of cardiac health problems.

The vast, vast, vast majority of people do not have any reason to restrict salt intake.

High salt increases likelihood of kidney stones

And high water increases likelihood of electrocution. And very high water increases likelihood of finding yourself with a wet T-shirt.

"Increases likelihood" is bullshit at best (manipulation more typically) without quantifying how much, and how much would it need to be to be remotely significant.

47 percent of adults in the US suffer from hypertension: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12196499/

which is much more easily explained by a garbage diet, no preventative medicine so to speak of, obesity, work/family/financial stress. there is a lot of space between 2100 mg of sodium for a 3 piece chicken w/ fries, and ~150 mg to put a little life into a patty.

> So for the health-conscious eater, the real hamburger wins.

The health-conscious are famous for their hamburger usage.