How does chicken intake compare to fish and meat with regard to its impact on blood fats?

Researchers at the University of Stellenbosch in Tygerberg, South Africa have recently analyzed chicken intake for its impact on blood fats (including total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, and triglycerides) and they also compared this impact of chicken with the impact of red meat. All participants in this five-month study followed a prudent diet consisting of about 17% protein, 53% carbs, and 30% fat, together with an average of 20 grams of fiber per day and 200 milligrams of cholesterol. The study design included two time periods: during one time period the participants ate lean beef five days per week and lean mutton two days per week, and during a second time period, their diet contained skinless chicken five days per week and fish two days per week. Blood work during the study showed that the prudent diet helped lower total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol regardless of whether chicken-fish or beef-mutton was eaten. However, the chicken-fish combination was shown to have more favorable effects on the composition of triglyceride (TG) fats in the blood of the participants than the lean beef-lean mutton combination. Anti-inflammatory omega-3 fats (including EPA and DHA) were higher in the TGs of participants when chicken-fish was consumed, and levels of the pro-inflammatory fatty acid arachidonic acid (AA) were lower.

It's interesting that the researchers did not examine the difference between dark and light chicken and included both, provided that the chicken was skinless. From our perspective, the light meat versus dark meat difference is just as important as the with-skin versus without-skin difference. While a chicken breast with skin (light meat) is about 35% fat and a chicken leg with skin (dark meat) is about 44% fat, the chicken breast drops down to about 20% fat when skinned and the chicken leg only drops down to 40%. In addition, the chicken leg starts out with and retains about 125-130 milligrams of cholesterol while the chicken breast starts out with and retains about 70-90 milligrams. We expect that the participants might have seen even greater blood fat changes if skinned, light meat chicken had been consumed exclusively in comparison to lean red meats.

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