What Happens To Your Body When You Eat Canned Chicken
A lot of people turn to canned foods when they need quick and easy meals. On the other hand, not all canned foods are better than fresh ones, and chicken in a can is no different.
There are big changes in how chicken is handled in cans that can affect both the health and nutritional value of the chicken. It may look like you’re getting the same high-quality meat as when you buy it fresh.
This in-depth look will show you how canned chicken can affect your body, so you can decide if it’s a good choice for you.
What Makes Fresh Chicken Different from Canned Chicken
Most of the time, fresh chicken gets straight from the farm to the store, where it keeps most of its nutrients and taste.
But chicken that comes in a can goes through a longer and more thorough processing and sterilization process that includes heating it at high temperatures to stop germs from growing. This method helps the chicken last longer, but it changes its texture, taste, and nutritional value.
Serena Poon, a celebrity cook and nutritionist, says that processing meat at high temperatures can make it less healthy generally. On top of that, most canned chicken comes from corporate farms, where the way the chickens are raised can change the quality of the meat.
What Canned Chicken Does to Your Health
1. You might feel pain or inflammation
It’s easy to think of processed foods as snacks like cookies or chips, but it’s important to remember that canned chicken is also a processed food.
While chicken does have some health benefits, like protein, many of the vitamins and minerals that are normally found in chicken are lost when it is canned. Experts say that prepared foods, like chicken in a can, can make the body inflamed, which is a major cause of many diseases.
According to one study, the high-heat cleaning method breaks down proteins, which makes the texture mushier and the look less appealing. You’re also eating a product with less nutritional value because the meat’s make-up has changed.
2. Being around BPA
Being exposed to Bisphenol-A (BPA) is one of the risks of eating canned foods, like chicken. To keep things from rusting, this chemical is used to line a lot of canned goods.
But BPA can get into food, and being exposed to it for a long time can be very bad for your health. Heart disease and diabetes are more likely to happen if you have a lot of BPA in your body.
BPA has also been shown to mess up hormones in the body, like thyroid and estrogen hormones. This can mess up a lot of parts of your health, like cell repair, energy levels, baby growth, and your ability to get pregnant.
3. You might be happy for longer
Some good things about canned chicken are that it is high in protein, which can help you feel full for longer. This high-protein food could save your life if you need a quick meal but don’t want to eat too much.
Stephanie Mansour, a weight loss guide, says that eating protein helps your body release hormones that tell you you’re full, which makes you feel less hungry and stops you from wanting high-carb foods.
Protein in canned chicken may also help people who are trying to lose weight because it makes you feel full longer, which makes it less likely that you will eat too much.
4. You’re taking in Sodium Phosphate
Sodium phosphate is often found in canned chicken because it keeps the chicken from going bad. Phosphates are found naturally in some foods, but the chemical type that is added can be very bad for you.
Researchers have found that sodium phosphate can be bad for people who already have kidney problems and may also be bad for the health of your heart.
Sodium phosphate is an addition that helps canned goods last longer, but health experts say you should stay away from it whenever you can.
If you’re worried about your heart health or kidney health, you should eat less frozen chicken or choose chicken that is fresh.
5. You might get stronger
On the plus side, frozen chicken can be an easy way to get nutrition if you want to build muscle. Muscles need protein to grow, and chicken has an amino acid called leucine that starts the body’s protein production process. For Mansour, leucine is a very important amino acid for starting the processes that build muscle.
If you don’t have much time but still want to make sure you get enough protein to build muscle, canned chicken can be a good choice. Just keep in mind that it has extra chemicals and that regular usage may have some negative effects.
6. The chicken you’re eating may have been raised in cruel ways.
The source of the chicken used in canned goods is something that is often forgotten. People often think of factory farming when they think of canned chicken.
This means that the meat may come from animals that were raised in bad conditions. Poon says that chickens grown in these places get sick a lot and are given antibiotics to help them, which can change the quality of the meat in the long run.
Eating chicken that was raised in cruel conditions can be morally wrong, and it can also be bad for your health. drug use in meat farming has been linked to health problems in people, like drug resistance. This resistance can make it harder to treat illnesses and is becoming a bigger problem for public health.
The Problem with How Much Sodium Is in Canned Chicken
One more problem with canned chicken is that it often has a lot of salt. Most prepared foods, including canned chicken, are high in sodium.
Too much sodium can cause high blood pressure, water buildup, and gas. This can be especially scary for people who already have heart problems, since eating a lot of salt is linked to a higher risk of heart disease.
Even though canned chicken is a quick way to get protein, it’s important to read the labels and know how much salt is in the food. If you want to cut down on salt, you might want to choose fresh or frozen chicken instead.
Other Foods Besides Canned Chicken
If you’re worried about the possible health risks of canned chicken, there are other easy-to-use options that might meet your nutritional needs better. Take a look at these choices:
Fresh or Frozen Chicken: If you buy fresh or frozen chicken, it has most of its natural nutrients and none of the chemicals that are in bottled chicken. If you need quick meals, you can cook a lot of fresh chicken at once and freeze it.
Rotisserie Chicken: Store-bought rotisserie chicken is still processed in some ways, but it usually has fewer preservatives than canned chicken, so it’s a better choice for quick meals.
Proteins from plants: If you want to eat less processed meat, try protein sources from plants, like tofu, lentils, or beans. They are a healthy, fiber-rich choice to meat-based meals.
The Bottom Line
When you’re short on time, canned chicken can be a good choice, but it’s important to know the health risks that come with it.
The high-heat handling can make the meat less healthy, and the presence of additives like sodium phosphate and exposure to BPA makes people worry about the long-term effects on health.
Canning chicken isn’t a replacement for fresh, nutrient-dense foods, but it can be helpful in a pinch because it’s high in protein and makes you feel full longer.
Fresh foods or foods that have been treated as little as possible are better for your health and well-being in the long run.
