When Tired at Work, Eat Chicken
Eating chicken can boost immunity—a view confirmed at the recent International Symposium on Bioactive Peptides, Nutrition, and Health held in Shanghai. A newly released report presented at the symposium demonstrated that chickens and their extracts significantly enhance immune function, aligning with both nutritional science and traditional Chinese medicine theory.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds that chicken has properties to warm the middle energizer, tonify qi, nourish essence and marrow, benefit the five zang organs, and repair deficiencies. It can treat symptoms like fatigue and dizziness caused by physical weakness. For men, conditions such as frequent urination, hearing loss, and low sperm count due to kidney essence deficiency can also be alleviated by eating chicken.
Modern nutrition distinguishes between "red meat" (pork, beef, lamb) and "white meat" (poultry and seafood), with white meat generally considered more nutritious. Chicken is a prime example of white meat. Its immune-enhancing effects mainly stem from taurine. Taurine enhances digestion, acts as an antioxidant, and provides mild detoxification. It also supports heart and brain function and promotes cognitive development in children. Particularly, black chicken and turkey contain higher levels of taurine, offering stronger tonic effects than regular chicken.
Moreover, different parts of the chicken vary in nutritional content. Chicken breast has low fat and high levels of vitamins, including B vitamins and niacin—niacin helps lower cholesterol. Chicken wings, however, contain more fat; those aiming to lose weight should limit intake. Generally, older chickens have higher fat content than young ones. Chicken liver contains very high cholesterol, comparable to pork liver; those with high cholesterol should avoid excessive consumption.
Given chicken’s strong tonic properties, modern white-collar workers constantly busy and often in suboptimal health should eat more to strengthen immunity and reduce illness risk. However, not everyone is suited to chicken supplementation. High protein content may burden the kidneys, so those with kidney disease should eat sparingly—especially uremic patients, who should avoid chicken entirely.