Fitting meat, poultry, and fish into a healthy diet

              Cooperative Extension Service
College of Agriculture and
Home Economics
N EW
M EX IC O STA
E
UNIVERSITY
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Fitting Meat, Poultry,
and Fish into a
Healthy Diet
Guide E-129
Martha Archuleta, Extension Food and Nutrition Specialist
This publication is scheduled to be updated and reissued 9/04.
To find more resources for your business, home, or family, visit the College of Agriculture and Home Economics
on the World Wide Web at http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu
THE NEW NUTRITION
You’ve probably heard about protein, vitamins,
minerals, fats, carbohydrates, and water. Your body
needs enough of these nutrients to function properly.
But too much of some nutrients can have a negative
effect.
To help people deal with the balancing act of good
nutrition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Ser-vices
(HHS) suggest the following seven Dietary
Guidelines for Americans:
• Eat a variety of foods
• Balance the food you eat with physical activity–
maintain or improve your weight
• Choose a diet with plenty of grain products,
vegetables, and fruits
• Choose a diet low in fat, saturated fat, and cho-lesterol
• Choose a diet moderate in sugars
• Choose a diet moderate in salt and sodium
• If you drink alcoholic beverages, do so in mod-eration
The fact sheet explains how three of the seven
guidelines can be used to help you select meat, poul-try,
and fish.
EAT A VARIETY OF FOODS
Eating a variety of foods makes it easier to get the
more than forty nutrients the body needs for good
health. Meat, poultry, and fish aren’t the only sources
of these nutrients, but they do contain many of them.
Key nutrients in meat and poultry are protein, iron,
zinc, thiamine, niacin, and vitamin B-12. Key nutri-ents
in fish are protein, iron, niacin, and vitamin B-12.
For example, a 3-ounce serving of beef, pork,
chicken, or canned tuna provides at least 50 percent of
the dairy value for protein. The following chart shows
that pork contains the most thiamine, beef the most
zinc, and chicken the most niacin. These data illus-trate
how foods contain different combinations and
amounts of nutrients.
Key Nutrients in Meat, Poultry, and Fish
3 ounces Percent of U.S. RDA
Protein Iron Zinc Thiamine Niacin Vitamin B-12
Beef 58 15 40 5 18 38
Chicken 56 5 12 4 40 5
Pork 51 6 20 40 21 12
Haddock 47 6 1 2 20 20
Tuna 51 3 - 0.2 25 -
Shrimp 40 14 9 0.5 11 21
Source: Data based on USDA Agriculture Handbook No. 8 Series as follows: Beef is a composite of trimmed retail cuts, separable lean
only, all grades, cooked. Pork is a composite of trimmed leg, loin, and shoulder, separable lean only, cooked, roasted. Chicken is broilers
or fryers, flesh only, cooked, roasted, Haddock is cooked, dry heat. Tuna is white, canned in water, drained solids. Shrimp is mixed species,
cooked, moist heat.