Benefits of Consuming Chicken Meat with Skin
Sushma Kumari1*, Sanjay Kumar2 , Nitu Sourya 3 and Nalin Parmar4
1*, 3, 4 Dept. of LPT, BVC, Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna
2 Dept. of LPM, BVC, Bihar Animal Sciences University, Patna
Passion for consuming chicken meat in various form is increasing day -by -day because this meat has not any social taboo along with free from affecting adverse health issues over red meat. However, the calorie conscious people, prefer to consume chicken meat without having skin. because most of the fat get adhered to chicken skin as sub-cutaneous fat. The chicken skin is the outermost covering of the whole chicken after proper defeathering. It is normally removed during slaughter process due to considering high-fat content. However, it is a good source of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, proteins, healthy saturated fats and other vitamins. In addition to healthy fat, 3.5 ounces of chicken skin also contain about 20g of protein along with small amounts of iron, potassium, and calcium. In 1oz of chicken skin, there is a total fat content of 8.1g. This is made up of 2.3g of saturated fat, 3.4g of monounsaturated fat, and 1.7g of polyunsaturated fat. As most of the fat in chicken skin is unsaturated fat which is very beneficial for people suffering from cardiovascular diseases. It also contains oleic acid in good amount and helps in formation of HDL (high-density lipoprotein) as a source of good cholesterol. Research have showed that, unsaturated fats can help to prevent and reduce blood cholesterol and stabilize blood pressure. Chicken skin may have anti-aging properties since it has the amino acid glycine, which helps to promote the production of collagen and tissue regeneration and also collagen helps to keep our skin elastic. It has also been observed that recipes prepared by chicken meat with skin needs less salt than without skin chicken. This focuses on low sodium consumption for health. Different methods of meat cooking like baking, grilling or roasting chicken without the skin generally makes the meat dry and less flavourful than the chicken cooked with skin. To overcome this problem during cooking, people do oversalting to their chicken, which may led to increase in sodium consumption than permissible daily intake. Skin on chicken meat protects the nutrient during cooking and also maintains moisture and improves flavour in chicken specially during the preparation of fried meat products. And thus, makes recipes more tender, juicy and delicious. It feels of full stomach for a longer period when consumed chicken meat products with skin, thus helps to reduce further over eating and to take more calories. Some people use to cook chicken with skin but removes skin before serving. This is generally followed, when charring of skin occurs during grilling or roasting on charcoal to produce smoky flavour, which may be carcinogenic due to regular and over consumption. Some people are also avoiding to consume chicken skin with a reason due to heavily use of antibiotics in poultry industry nowadays and most of these antibiotics or toxic components, which are lipophilic in nature are stored with subcutaneous fat of skin. So, taking chicken with skin in limited and moderate quantity will provide good health benefits.
