How much chicken liver should I eat a week?

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Eating Limits
Your Liver Limit
How Much Is Too Much?
How many times a week can you eat chicken liver?
How often can we eat chicken liver?
How much chicken liver is a serving?
How much chicken liver should you eat in a day?

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Liver is a good source of protein, as well as iron and other nutrients. However, liver also has high concentrations of elements that are not good for you, such as cholesterol. People with severe deficiencies of vitamin A, iron, copper or vitamin B12 might benefit from eating liver, but this is a decision best left to a nutritionist or doctor.

Eating Limits

Most people should eat liver no more than once a week, according to the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition. Those with severe vitamin A or iron deficiencies might get the OK from their doctors to eat larger amounts.

Vitamin A

A 3-oz serving of calf liver has 285 percent of your daily requirement of vitamin A. Vitamin A can be toxic if consumed in large amounts, because it accumulates in the body. Toxicity is more likely in children and in those who drink alcohol regularly and can cause nausea, drowsiness and fever. Severe cases can lead to bone fractures and severe anemia. People who are already taking vitamin supplements should talk to their doctors before eating liver to make sure they're not exceeding the safe recommendation for vitamin A. Pregnant people and those trying to become pregnant might need to avoid liver completely, unless their doctors give the OK. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, vitamin A can cause abnormal fetal development, as well as failure to thrive and kidney damage.

Fat

Liver is very high in cholesterol. The recommended maximum intake for adults is 300 mg per day. A 3-oz serving of beef liver has 330 mg, which is just over the limit. Lamb liver is higher, at 426 mg per serving, while chicken liver has 536 mg. If you already have high cholesterol, you might need to avoid it completely.

Nutrients

Because the liver is the organ in charge of filtering chemicals from the body, it's also the one where the hormones and chemicals injected into the animals end up. If you want to eat liver on a regular basis, buy organic. Organic meat comes from animals who haven't been injected with hormones and antibiotics. You can also choose to get vitamin A from other sources instead of liver. Try fortified milk and cheese for vitamin A. You can also get beta-carotene -- which the body then converts into vitamin A -- from plant sources, which include carrots, spinach, kale, apricots and mango.

Love it or hate it, liver is a good-for-you food. Packed with vitamins and minerals, including iron, that you need for optimal health, it is also low in calories and fat. Even though liver is a great source of easily metabolized iron, it's best to eat only a maximum of a couple times a week because of its high levels of vitamin A.

Your Liver Limit

Liver is the most concentrated dietary source of vitamin A, a fat-soluble vitamin important for healthy vision, immune function and reproduction. A 4-ounce portion of beef liver has 19,095 international units, or IU, of vitamin A, and 4 ounces of lamb liver has 27,812 IU. That is about 400 to 550 percent of the daily value for vitamin A.

In addition, the upper limit – the amount of a nutrient you should not exceed in a day – s set at 10,000 IU for adults. As a fat-soluble vitamin, excess vitamin A is stored in the body for a long period of time. Consistently exceeding the upper limit for vitamin A can lead to toxicity, causing nausea, dizziness, headaches, joint and bone pain, and even coma and death. Some research also suggests that high intakes of vitamin A may be associated with a reduction in bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures, according to the National Institutes of Health.

How Much Is Too Much?

Liver is also high in cholesterol, with 311 milligrams in 4 ounces of beef liver and 419mg in the same portion of lamb liver. As it becomes more clear that dietary cholesterol has little effect on cholesterol levels in the body, a maximum intake recommendation of 300mg per day has been removed from the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Still, people with heart disease and diabetes should be careful about how much dietary cholesterol they consume.

For everyone else, the cholesterol in an occasional serving of liver isn't a big deal. And, most likely, neither is the vitamin A content. However, it's still a good idea to keep your liver intake in check. Berkeley Wellness recommends eating small portions of liver only on occasion, and the Weston A. Price Foundation recommends limiting your intake to a 4-ounce serving no more than once or twice per week.

Mix It Up

Eating a wide variety of foods will help you get all the iron you need, in addition to adequate amounts of other nutrients. Other rich sources of dietary iron include oysters, chickpeas, lentils, sardines, beef and dark chocolate. The iron in plant foods isn't as highly bioavailable as the iron in animal foods. However, you can improve absorption by eating plant foods with animal foods or by consuming a food rich in vitamin C together with the iron source.

How many times a week can you eat chicken liver?

Neily says liver, like whole eggs, should be consumed in moderation. She recommends eating no more than two 3-ounce servings of any liver per week — but that can vary based on each individual's overall diet.

How often can we eat chicken liver?

It is also important to rinse the chicken livers carefully and cook them thoroughly before serving to avoid consuming any harmful bacteria. Since it is important to have chicken livers in moderation, try not to exceed the weekly limit of 85 grams.

How much chicken liver is a serving?

A 1-cup serving of fried, diced chicken liver contains 265 calories. The macronutrient breakdown is 28 grams of protein, 12.1 grams of fat and just under 9 grams of carbohydrate.

How much chicken liver should you eat in a day?

How much is too much? You are safe and will reap the benefits of chicken liver nutrition if you stick to eating 150 grams once or twice a week. This will be more than enough to reap the benefits and not be concerned with overloading on fat-soluble vitamins.