Burger King rolls out Impossible Whopper and experts debate how healthy the ...

Last week, Burger King announced that a vegan version of its signature Whopper was going to be rolled out nationally by the end of the year.

The Impossible Whopper - which uses a plant-based patty from Impossible Foods - is meant to target both vegetarians and meat-eating customers who want a more balanced diet.

However, experts' reactions to and opinions of the new menu item have varied.

Some say it's a good option for those who want to eat less red meat and that it will help tackle greenhouse gases that affect climate change.

Others say that the burgers are high in fat and sodium and that, at the end of the day, it's no healthier as a classic beef burger.

WHAT IS THE IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER? 

The Impossible Whopper is a vegetarian version of Burger King's famous sandwich. 

There's controversy on whether or not the burger is actually vegan because one of its ingredients was reportedly tested on rats, but the company insists it is vegan.

In April, the burger chain began testing the new sandwich in certain locations in St Louis, Missouri.

Last week, Burger King announced it will be offering the burger in all of its stores by the end of the year.

The burger uses a patty from Impossible Foods, a California-based company that develops plant-based substitutes for meat and dairy products.  

Here is a list of the 21 ingredients that make up the new burger, which debuted in 2019:

Water Soy Protein Concentrate Coconut Oil Sunflower Oil Natural Flavors Two percent or less of all the following: Potato Protein Methylcellulose Yeast Extract Cultured Dextrose Food Starch Modified Soy Leghemoglobin Salt Soy Protein Isolate Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E) Zinc Gluconate Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1) Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C) Niacin Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6) Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) Vitamin B12

HOW HEALTHY IS IT COMPARED TO RED MEAT? 

There has been a nearly 600 percent increase in Americans who identify as vegan over the last three years.

In 2014, just one percent of Americans did compared to six percent in 2017, according to a report from analytics company GlobalData. 

Research has long shown that a diet high in red meat, such as burgers, steaks, sausages and pork chops, can trigger cardiovascular disease. 

Additionally, the World Health Organization says that eating large amounts of processed meat increases the risk of colorectal cancer.

However, Adena Neglia, a registered dietitian at Brown & Medina Nutrition in New York City, told DailyMail.com that she leans towards beef burgers from a health perspective.

Impossible Food's four-ounce patty is listed at 240 calories and, while ground beef can vary, the same size patty with about 80 percent lean meat and 20 percent fatty is roughly 290 calories.

'With the plant-based burgers, they do a decent job of getting a good amount of protein,' Neglia said. 'They get typically 19 to 20 grams in there - similar to beef, which may have a few grams more.'