Chicken liver and gizzard: nutrition per 100 g

1. 01

   Most folate of any food listed

   At 1032 micrograms per 100 g, chicken liver ranks 1st for folate of all 197 foods with a value in IFCT 2017. That is several times the daily requirement: 344 per cent for a sedentary man and 469 per cent for a woman. Folate is needed to make new red blood cells.

2. 02

   Iron in its most absorbable form

   Liver gives 9.92 mg of iron per 100 g, 1st of 14 in its group and 13th of 242 foods. That covers 52 per cent of a man's daily iron need and, because women need more iron, only 34 per cent of a woman's. Much of it is haem iron, which the body absorbs far better than iron from grains or greens.

3. 03

   Very high in vitamin A

   Chicken liver carries 3486 micrograms of retinol per 100 g, the preformed vitamin A the body uses directly. No other meat, poultry or egg in IFCT 2017 comes close; even egg, the next highest, has only a small fraction of that.

4. 04

   Protein and B vitamins

   With 21.6 g protein per 100 g, liver ranks 3rd of 14 in its group. It also meets 38 per cent of a man's vitamin B6 requirement, 25 per cent of his niacin and 16 per cent of his thiamine, and it leads its group for thiamine and selenium, at 46.4 micrograms.

Values per 100 g of the edible portion. Source: Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad. Daily-need shares use the ICMR-NIN 2020 recommended dietary allowances for a 65 kg man and a 55 kg woman doing sedentary work (ICMR-NIN brief note). Nutrients IFCT did not analyse for this food are left out rather than shown as zero.

• Kaleji masala: liver and gizzard pieces tossed in onion, ginger, garlic and garam masala, cooked quickly so the liver stays soft.
• Kozhi eeral varuval: Tamil-style liver fry with crushed black pepper, fennel and curry leaves.
• Pressure-cook gizzards first, then add them to a dry pepper fry or a thick onion masala.
• A spoonful of chopped cooked liver mixed into keema or egg bhurji adds iron without a strong liver taste.

Liver is very rich in preformed vitamin A, which the body stores rather than flushes out. Pregnant women are usually advised to keep liver to small, occasional portions because too much retinol can harm the developing baby; they should follow their doctor's advice. Liver also has 268 mg of cholesterol per 100 g, the 2nd highest of 253 foods in IFCT 2017, and organ meats are high in purines, so people with gout or high LDL should eat it rarely. Buy it fresh, keep it cold and cook it through.

Food composition is general information, not a diet plan. Anyone managing a medical condition should plan their diet with a doctor or a registered dietitian.

• Chicken (broiler)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Goat meat (mutton)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Egg

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Duck

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Spinach

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

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