Try Dark Meat for Better Heart Health

A nutrient called taurine, found in the dark meat of turkey and chicken, may protect women with high cholesterol against coronary heart disease, according to new research.

Drumsticks aren’t usually considered one of the healthier choices at the dinner table. Dark meat has more fat and calories than white meat. But those chicken and turkey thighs, legs, and wings also have a potentially helpful nutrient: taurine.

A study published in February 2013 in the European Journal of Nutrition revealed that taurine, naturally found in the dark meat of poultry and also in some fish and shellfish, may actually protect women with high cholesterol against coronary heart disease.

Researchers linked higher taurine intake to a 60 percent lower risk of developing or dying from heart disease among women with high total cholesterol levels. Among women with low cholesterol levels, however, taurine failed to have the same beneficial effect.

“It is an interesting possibility. There are potential beneficial effects of taurine on cardiovascular disease,” says lead researcher Yu Chen, PhD, MPH, an associate professor of population health in the epidemiology division at New York University's Langone Medical Center in New York City. Newer research, published in February 2016 in PLoS One, found a lower stroke risk for women who had never smoked who had higher blood levels of taurine. “More research needs to be done, but these two studies suggest that one day we may be able to suggest that people with high cholesterol eat more poultry and dark cuts of meat,” says Dr. Chen.

Chen says more research is needed to expand this recommendation to men, and even women of all races. This particular study looked at women only, the majority of whom were Caucasian.

A little more than a quarter of American adults (27.8 percent) have hypercholesterolemia, a condition characterized by very high levels of cholesterol in the blood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A person whose total cholesterol level is less than 200 mg/dL is in a “desirable” overall cholesterol range, while someone whose blood level count is more than 240mg/dL has “high” cholesterol, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. Heart disease is the leading cause of death among women and men in the United States.

Research shows that a Mediterranean-style diet that includes unsaturated fats found in foods such as avocados, olive oil, and nuts can protect the heart. Perhaps chicken wings (baked, not fried) will make it onto that list one day.