Chicken is one of those meat items found in almost every cuisine. It’s one of the most favorite meals of people in all ages. This lean meat is low in fat, which can be found on its skin. It’s frequently consumed also because of its relatively low cost, and provides two sources of food to humans, their meat and their eggs.
Here are some of the nutrients found in chicken:
- Polyunsaturated fat
Chicken meat contains polyunsaturated fat, such as olive oil, which is healthy for your heart. Its function is to reduce bad cholesterol to the blood, which can prevent problems in blood vessels, circulatory system, and the heart.
- Proteins
It also has proteins that serves as the building blocks of tissues in our body.
- Vitamins B6
It’s found that chicken meat possess Vitamin B6, which is known as a water-soluble vitamin that acts as a coenzyme to the body to maintain the normal levels of amino acids to the body and others.
Note: Those are just some of the major nutritional content of chicken. Other nutrients found in chicken are mentioned below, together with its health benefits.
What are the health benefits of chicken?
Whatever type of preparation, roasting, boiling, baking, grilling, steaming, and others, chicken meat is suitable. You can incorporate it in soup, fried rice, curry, or you can create chicken caesar salad and buffalo chicken mac and cheese. Aside from being tasty, it has a wide variety of benefits to the body. It’s suited, especially for health-conscious people or for those who want to reduce their weight.
Here are some of the health benefits of chicken in your food preparation:
- Protects your eyes
It can protect your eyes, especially if you have a weak vision. Since it has retinol, carotene, and lycopene, which is mainly needed for good eyesight, this meat is important for the overall health of your eyes. It can also prevent night blindness and macular degeneration.
- Good for oral health
Since chicken meat contains phosphorus, it can be good for your oral health. Phosphorus can strengthen not just your teeth, but your gums as well. It can prevent the weakening of your teeth and the bleeding of your gums. However, if your gums still bleeds, it’s better to consult a doctor about it because it might be a serious oras problem.
- Maintains a healthy min
Chicken meat has vitamin B, which promotes good psychological health. Memory-loss, stress, and anxiety can be prevented when enough vitamin B is consumed. It can also improve your concentration and focus, especially when studying or working.
- Promotes cell and tissue growth
Riboflavin is needed to promote cell and tissue growth, which can also be found in chicken, especially in chicken liver and chicken breasts. If you’re deficient in some vitamins and minerals needed for tissue and cell regeneration, it will be damaged and can cause dryness and cracking of skin, and chapped, peeling, or swollen lips.
- Prevents cold
A warm chicken soup can combat the factors associated with seasonal colds because it contains a lot of nutrients needed to prevent it. Sore throat and congested nose can be relieved by consuming chicken prepared with hot soup, especially if it is incorporated with vegetables.
- Boosts immunity
In order to function properly, your immune system needs potassium, iron, and magnesium, which can also be found in chicken meat. These nutrients can strengthen the cells in your immune system, and as a result, it can fight free radicals, malignant cells, toxins, and other damaging factors that might enter your body. Your immunity will be boosted and will become strong when you include your chicken in your food preparation.
- Maintains normal body weight
If you want to lose some weight in your body, chicken can be an ideal option because as stated above, it only contains a minimum amount of fat. You can add it to soups, salads, or can be mixed with grilled vegetables.
- For stronger nails
When your body lacks some of the nutrients needed to achieve optimal health, it can cause various problems, and one of those is from the nails. With a combination of potassium, iron, and other needed vitamins that can be found in chicken, you’ll achieve a stronger and healthier nails
- Good for the heart
When chicken is consumed in adequate amounts, your cardiovascular health will be optimized. It can reduce cholesterol levels and maintains a normal blood pressure, which results to heart attack and stroke if its levels become higher than normal.
- Balances your hormone levels
If your adrenal gland functions improperly, cortisol hormones will become imbalanced, and may cause higher levels of stress. Consuming chicken can make your cortisol levels balanced, which is important to maintain so your stress levels will be low.
Indeed, including chicken in your food preparations can improve your health in many ways. Fight stress, maintain a good physique, and prevent diseases and illnesses from entering your body by consuming moderate amounts of chicken.
