Chicken is one of the most popular types of meat in the world. For good reason, poultry is a meat with a long list of advantages. It works great on a diet, and thanks to nutrients and minerals positively affects the health of everyone who eats it. It’s also easy to prepare and tastes good to almost everyone Here are the key nutritional benefits of poultry meat.
High content of protein and low content of fat
A man is cutting up a chicken for dinner. Poultry meat achieves the best result in terms of protein to fat ratio. Turkey and chicken meat in particular are rich in complete protein, which has the added advantage of being easily digestible. Thanks to its low fat content, poultry meat has a low energy value, which means it contains fewer calories; in addition, in poultry the fat is under the skin, so it is easy to remove. The advantages don’t seem to end, so to top it all off, the melting point of fat in poultry is very low. The fat in poultry meat itself contains a beneficial mix of unsaturated fatty acids that are important for the diet, reducing the risk of coronary heart disease. There are two to three times more polyunsaturated fatty acids in poultry than in other meats. In addition, it contains less cholesterol.
Highest nutritional and dietary value
In the long list of nutritional values of poultry, we should particularly emphasise:
- zinc,
- magnesium,
- potassium,
- iron,
- vitamins B (including niacin), A, D, E,
- carnosine and anserine.
Zinc is one of the essential elements of all life processes – from metabolic processes to binding proteins in DNA. Its deficit causes anaemia, including poor wound healing or problems with growth rate. And the list of symptoms of magnesium deficit is too long to be included here; it suffices to stress that, like zinc, it participates in almost every process occurring in the human body. Potassium is essential to avoid weakening of the body and to build durable, strong muscles. Iron is responsible for the whole multitude of elements as it works in hemoglobin, tissues, muscles, bone marrow, blood proteins, enzymes, ferritin, hemosiderin and plasma. Vitamins found in poultry meat are a recipe for a strong immune system, and vitamin PP, that is niacin, has a very positive effect on the skin. Finally, carnosine and anserine, natural enemies of free radicals, found in poultry, counteract ageing and the formation of cancer.