Poultry, particularly chicken, has been, up until recently, the healthy food choice. It has had the blessing of nutritionists as a source of high-quality dietary protein and a source of essential nutrients. Essential nutrients are compounds the human body cannot make and must be obtained from dietary sources. They include “all 20 amino acids and adequate quantities of the nine essential amino acids.”
Chicken and other poultry “do not naturally contain carbohydrates.” Chicken contains high quantities of protein, low quantities of fat (saturated fat about 27-29%), and contains vitamins and minerals in generous amounts. “Unprocessed chicken and poultry products are naturally low in salt. “Processed chicken and poultry may contain high or very high amounts of sodium.”
Studies from 2022 and 2023 have shown that “consuming lean unprocessed animal-based protein-rich foods, inclusive of chicken as the primary source of dietary protein favorably affects body weight or body composition concurrent with purposeful weight loss, but not weight maintenance.” It “does not influence the health-promoting effects…..on multiple cardiovascular disease risk factors… greater poultry consumption has either neutral or beneficial associations with CVD, coronary heart disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke, but neutral of adverse associations with BP and hypertension….consumption of lean chicken is either beneficial or has neutral effects on type II diabetes.”
Bottom Line (until 2025): Healthy adults can feel reassured that poultry/chicken products provide high-quality protein, essential nutrients, and vitamins and minerals without increasing the risk of CVD, Type 2 Diabetes, or stroke.
New research now says that “eating more than 300 grams of poultry a week causes a 27% higher risk of all-cause mortality compared to folks who eat less than 100 grams. The worrisome part is their risk of death from a gastrointestinal cancer (colorectal, liver, pancreatic) was more than doubled.” There was a “clear dose-response pattern,” and men were more likely to have this outcome.
It was recommended, therefore, that people consume poultry in moderation and eat fish, or other sources of protein, more often. As I mentioned in prior articles, cooking any meat with high temperature releases toxic chemicals that are harmful.
The new Bottom Line: Eat chicken in moderation, eat other sources of protein, and avoid high temperature cooking.
References: McKnight P. Poultry Consumption Linked to Long-Term Health Outcomes Medscape 2025 September 24.
Connolly G, Clark CM, Campbell RE, Byers AW, Reed JB, Campbell WW. Poultry Consumption and Human Health: How much is really known? A systematically searched Scoping Review and research perspective. Adv Nutr 2022 Dec 22;13(6):2115-2124.
Connolly G, Campbell WW. Poultry Consumption and Human Cardiometabolic Health-Related Outcomes: A Narrative Review. Nutrients 2023 15:3550.
