Chicken

Food · Animal Foods · Poultry & Eggs

Connected to · 2

food source · 2

Protein
Chicken is complete protein and high in leucine. Breast and thigh carry about the same protein and differ mainly in fat; skinless breast gives that protein for the fewest calories.
Mechanism · 2
Mechanism · What complete protein means
The body assembles protein chains in order, and if one essential amino acid is missing, the whole chain stalls. Complete protein means there is enough of every essential amino acid, with no obvious weak spot. Leucine also doubles as a start signal: when blood leucine is high, muscle knows there is material for building protein. In experiments that measure muscle building over a few hours, a meal with more leucine pushes building higher after that meal; but in training trials that measure how much muscle grew over several weeks, how protein is split across meals matters little, and getting the day's total first matters more.
In practice · Breast or thigh
Skinless breast is highest in protein and very low in fat; skinless thigh has close to the same protein, clearly more fat, and a little more iron and zinc; with the skin on, both step up in fat again, because chicken skin is almost pure fat. Choosing breast or thigh is choosing a calorie budget, not a protein quality. Chicken has essentially no carbohydrate.
Niacin
Chicken is a good dietary source of niacin (vitamin B3). Niacin is the raw material for NAD, the molecule that carries hydrogen when cells draw energy out of food.
Mechanism · 2
Mechanism · The go-between that carries hydrogen
Getting energy from food means pulling hydrogen off the fuel and finally handing it to oxygen. A molecule has to catch the hydrogen, carry it over and hand it off, and its backbone is made from niacin: empty-handed it is called NAD, and carrying hydrogen it is called NADH. So niacin does not give you energy directly; it is the tool that lets energy be drawn out. In severe deficiency, the skin, the digestive tract and the nerves run into trouble together, because cells in all three turn over quickly and burn a lot of energy.
In practice · What else comes with the meat
Niacin comes in the same piece of chicken as complete protein, vitamin B6 and selenium. Dark meat such as thigh has more iron and zinc than breast; if you want the most protein with the least fat, breast is still the choice.

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What chicken is · white and dark meat

EVIDENCEGUIDE 1

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Raw chicken often carries Salmonella and Campylobacter, and cooking the thickest part to 74°C at the center kills them — that is the most important thing about eating chicken. Why you need a thermometer rather than going by color is explained in the chapter Cook it to 74°C in the center.

Chicken is one of the most widely eaten meats in the world. It is poultry, a white meat, and it was not part of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) evaluation that classified red and processed meat as cancer hazards. Its headline trait is high protein and low fat, especially in skinless breast.

Different cuts of the same bird differ a lot, because what a muscle does decides its color and makeup:

Breast: rarely works for long stretches, has little myoglobin (the protein that stores oxygen in muscle), is pale, low in fat and high in protein. It is the leanest cut.Drumstick and thigh: work all day holding the bird up and walking, have more myoglobin, are darker, and carry more fat, iron and zinc.Skin: most of the fat is here, so leaving it on or taking it off changes the calories a lot.
So "chicken is healthy" is too vague. Whether it is lean, and whether it gives you much iron, depends on whether you eat breast or thigh, and whether the skin stays on.

A pale skinless breast beside darker thigh meat with part of its skin visible. — A CLOSER LOOK
One chicken, different muscles
Cut and skin change the nutrient profile; use a food thermometer to establish doneness.

Educational content, not medical advice — consult a clinician.

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