Poultry Meat Nutritive Value and Human Health

Although the composition of poultry meat significantly depends on the bird species, the feeding, the cuts, and the presence of skin, overall it is considered of good nutritional value and low energy content. Besides containing good amounts of proteins and many micronutrients, poultry meat is relatively low in fats and cholesterol, particularly when it is consumed without skin. An interesting nutritional characteristic of the poultry meat is to be rich in n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. The content of these fatty acids can be further increased using appropriate feeding, and a genotype-based selection has been also suggested to produce chicken meat with high eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) content, possibly representing an alternative to fish. Poultry meat also contains several bioactive components such as glutathione, taurine, anserine, and others, and the content of most of them can also be increased by appropriate feeding. Future perspective indicates poultry meat as a promising functional food.