As previously mentioned, lamb is higher in both calories and fat than chicken, which is important when you're trying to lose weight. Lamb is also higher in saturated fat, 3 grams versus 1 gram. High intakes of saturated fat may increase blood cholesterol levels and your risk of heart disease.
Most important Health Benefits of Lamb Meat
As a red meat, lamb inherently has a lot more iron than other protein sources like chicken or fish. In addition, since lamb is an animal source of iron, it contains heme iron rather than the non-heme iron found in plants.
Grass-fed lamb is considered to be one of the healthiest red meats, although grass-fed beef is close behind. Both grass-fed lamb and beef contain healthy levels of vitamins, minerals, protein, omega-3 fats, and CLA.
In general, red meats (such as beef, pork and lamb) have more saturated fat than skinless chicken, fish and plant proteins. Saturated fats can raise your blood cholesterol and increase your risk of heart disease. If you eat poultry, pork, beef or other meats, choose lean meat, skinless poultry, and unprocessed forms.
No, you should not regularly eat lamb or add them to your daily diet. As mentioned, this red meat contains high levels of saturated fat. Therefore, overeating lamb in the daily diet will cause high cholesterol and hypertension.
1. Red meat. Red meat, including beef, lamb, venison, and mutton, can have high levels of cholesterol and saturated fat.
In general, I recommend making meat a limited part of your diet—try to eat it no more than one to two times a week.
A healthy balanced diet can include protein from meat, as well as from fish and eggs or non-animal sources such as beans and pulses. Meats such as chicken, pork, lamb and beef are all rich in protein. Red meat provides us with iron, zinc and B vitamins. Meat is one of the main sources of vitamin B12 in the diet.
A 3-ounce portion of roasted chicken breast has 27 grams of protein, while the same serving of lamb sirloin has 24 grams. However, the protein from chicken comes with fewer calories and fat, 135 calories and 3 grams of fat in the chicken versus 175 calories and 8 grams of fat in the lamb.
When it comes to overall health, saturated fat should be limited as much as possible. Lamb typically has more saturated fat — which can raise your levels of bad cholesterol, putting you at higher risk of cardiovascular disease — than beef or pork.
There are good, lean choices. For example, you can consider chicken or turkey breasts without skin; pork tenderloin; or beef round, sirloin, or tenderloin. Avoid highly processed meats (bacon, ham, lunchmeat, etc.). Check the nutrition label on the package to determine portion size.
Skinless, lean, and ground chicken or turkey breast are good low-cholesterol choices.
The worst foods for high cholesterol, given their high saturated fat content, include: Red meat, like beef, pork, and lamb, as well as processed meats like sausage. Full-fat dairy, like cream, whole milk, and butter. Baked goods and sweets.
Lamb meat is also very rich in B vitamins, especially B12 and B3. It's incredibly mineral rich and provides high amounts of zinc, selenium, phosphorus, and iron. It is one of the only foods containing high levels of the amino acid compound L-Carnosine.
How much red meat should you eat per week? Dietitians recommend a maximum of seven serves of lean red meat per week – be it beef, lamb, veal, pork or kangaroo.
A cut above: Fish and poultry
Poultry and fish are considered the best meats you can load your diet with, Laster says. Fish is hailed for its omega-3 fatty acids, which can protect against cardiovascular disease. Fish is also rich in vitamin D, selenium and protein.