How chicken powers your body.
Chicken is an excellent low-calorie and low-fat source of high-quality protein that provides important nutrients throughout our lives – from pregnancy through our later years. Here’s how chicken powers your body, from head to toe…
How chicken stacks up to other protein sources.
Compared to many plant-based proteins, the protein from chicken is of a higher-quality, meaning it has enough of each of the nine essential amino acids – the building blocks of protein – that are needed in the human diet.
You can only get the nine essential amino acids from the foods you eat, and many plant-derived foods have a less favorable amino acid profile, which means they can be difficult to digest and not as usable in the body.
Chicken is an excellent source of protein that provides key nutrients.
Sources:
- Marangoni F, Corsello G, Cricelli C, et al. Role of poultry meat in a balanced diet aimed at maintaining health and wellbeing: An Italian consensus document. Food Nutr Res. 2015;59:27606.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central. www.fdc.nal.usda.gov. Updated March 2019. Accessed October 7, 2019.
