What are the benefits of eating a chicken drumstick every day? Is it good for cardiovascular health and can it help you live longer?

Eat a delicious chicken leg! Who can resist the tempting chicken leg? Especially the chicken leg pulled directly from the roast chicken, it is so delicious! Some friends can't wait to eat a chicken leg every day...

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What is the nutritional value of chicken legs, which are so popular? In addition to giving us spiritual satisfaction, what other benefits can we get from eating chicken legs? In this article, we will "dissect" a chicken leg!

Nutrition of chicken drumsticks

Chicken legs and chicken breasts are the most popular parts of the chicken. Although the water content is similar, chicken legs have a higher fat content, so they taste better and are not dry. In addition to being delicious, chicken legs are also nutritious .

Protein : Although the protein content of chicken legs is not as high as that of chicken breasts, the content is not low, at 20.2 g/100 g. [1] It is a high-quality protein that is easily absorbed and utilized by the body .

Vitamin B2: Chicken legs contain a good amount of vitamin B2, at 0.1 mg/100 g, which is 1.7 times that of chicken breast.

Potassium : The fragrant chicken legs are rich in potassium, with a content of 221 mg/100 g, which is very helpful for controlling blood pressure .

Iron: Chicken breast is white in color, while chicken thigh is slightly reddish in color and contains more hemoglobin. Therefore, eating chicken thigh is more iron-supplementing than eating chicken breast . The iron content is 1.8 mg/100 g, which is 1.8 times that of chicken breast.

What are the health effects of eating chicken legs?

Maintain muscle content: Eating a chicken drumstick with about 100g of edible part can easily supplement at least 20g of protein, which is not only beneficial to maintaining skin health, but also can prevent sarcopenia in the elderly .

Good for cardiovascular health : Most Chinese people consume a high proportion of animal-based foods in their diets. Pork, beef, mutton and other livestock meats are all red meats. Excessive intake increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, colorectal cancer, obesity and other diseases. [2]

In contrast, poultry, as white meat, is more recommended because studies have shown that poultry is not associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease. When controlling for energy intake, people who consumed one serving of poultry per day had a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease compared to those who consumed one serving of red meat per day . [2]

For people who like to eat meat, if they can replace part of the red meat with poultry, it will greatly improve their health and reduce the risk of diseases such as atherosclerosis and dyslipidemia .

Helps supplement a certain amount of iron : Although the iron supplement effect of poultry meat is not as good as that of pork, beef, mutton and other livestock meats, for people with cardiovascular diseases, eating less red meat and appropriately increasing the intake of poultry meat is also an effective way to supplement iron.

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May lead to longer life : This year, researchers from Columbia University in the United States published a study in the journal Nature, mentioning that taurine deficiency is a driving factor in aging. In different animals, including humans, blood taurine levels decrease with age. Animal experiments have shown that taurine supplementation can extend the lifespan of mice by 10% to 12% and improve a variety of health indicators! The conclusion is that taurine supplementation can make animals live longer . [3]

Dark-colored chicken, such as chicken thighs, is a food rich in taurine .[4]

However, the cholesterol content of chicken legs is higher than that of chicken breasts, at 99 mg/100 g, [1] which is 1.5 times that of chicken breasts and slightly higher than that of lean pork. But don’t be afraid to eat it because of this. Cholesterol is not a “disaster” and proper supplementation is beneficial to the body. It is a component of human cells and a prerequisite for the synthesis of many important hormones and vitamins .

However, people with high cholesterol and blood lipids should pay attention to controlling their cholesterol intake, and the total intake should be controlled within 200 mg.

What is the nutritional value of frozen chicken legs?

Frozen chicken legs are common in supermarkets, and many people have doubts about them. What is the quality of these frozen chicken legs and will the nutrients be lost?

In fact, frozen meat is not only an important product for the country to regulate the meat food market, but also the main form of domestic transportation and import and export trade of meat products. As long as you buy frozen chicken legs in regular supermarkets, you don’t have to worry too much about quality issues. They are all quickly frozen when the meat is fresh. Frozen chicken legs are easier to preserve than fresh chicken legs, and they can also lock in flavor and nutrition .

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During a certain period of freezing, the degree of fat oxidation and protein denaturation in frozen chicken is not high, and the chicken is still quite fresh. [5] What needs to be paid attention to is the thawing method. If the thawing method is not correct, it will lead to increased nutrient loss and a worse taste.

A study compared the effects of four thawing methods on the quality of frozen chicken legs: room temperature thawing, running water thawing, refrigerated thawing, and microwave thawing. The results showed that thawing at room temperature not only causes serious water loss in the chicken legs, but also causes the most serious protein oxidation and is easily contaminated by microorganisms; microwave thawing causes more serious damage to the chicken leg tissue, and the protein is prone to degradation and denaturation, and partial ripening; refrigerated thawing can effectively inhibit the growth of microorganisms and the degree of protein denaturation due to the low thawing temperature; running water thawing has better water retention, the lowest degree of oxidation, and the best quality . [6]

Therefore, the most suitable methods for thawing chicken legs are running water thawing and refrigerated thawing . If you plan to eat chicken legs the next day, you can put the frozen chicken legs in the refrigerator to thaw slowly the night before ; if you decide to eat chicken legs at the last minute, you can thaw them directly under running water.

Generally speaking, frozen chicken legs can be stored for 9 months, and fresh chicken legs can be stored in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 days.[7]

It's best not to eat this kind of chicken leg

Although chicken legs are a healthy meat that is recommended for everyone to eat, there is one type of chicken legs that you must eat less or not, and that is fried chicken legs.

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Deep frying is a high-temperature cooking method that will destroy nutrients. Continuous high-temperature frying will produce trans fatty acids and carcinogens, which are bad for health . In many cases, the outside of the chicken legs will be coated with flour while frying, which will absorb more fat and may double the calories. Eating it often will also make you gain weight .

If you can't stop eating fried chicken legs, eat them occasionally. If you want to keep your weight in check, skinless chicken legs are recommended ! If you don't like chicken legs, you can also eat duck legs, goose legs, and turkey legs, which are also poultry white meat. Diversification is better. According to the "Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents", the daily intake of livestock and poultry meat should be controlled at 300-500 grams, which is equivalent to about 1 small chicken leg or half a large chicken leg.

References

[1] Yang Yuexin. Chinese Food Composition Table 6th Edition Volume 2[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2019

[2] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents[M]. People's Medical Publishing House. 2022

[3]Singh, Parminder et al. "Taurine deficiency as a driver of aging." Science (New York, NY) vol.380,6649 (2023): eabn9257.

[4]Wójcik, Oktawia P et al. "The potential protective effects of taurine on coronary heart disease." Atherosclerosis vol. 208,1 (2010): 19-25.

[5] Wang Yanfang, Lin Jie, Zheng Hua. Research progress on quality of frozen chicken[J]. Meat Research, 2013, 27(12): 28-31.

[6] Liang Shihui, Feng Yumin, Deng Huarong, et al. Effect of thawing method on oxidative properties of chicken leg protein[J]. Food and Fermentation Industries, 2023, 49(05): 223-229.

Author: Xue Qingxin, one of the first nutrition instructors of the National Health Commission, and a registered nutritionist in China

Review丨Gu Chuanling, Deputy Secretary General of Capital Health Nutrition and Gourmet Society, Registered Nutritionist