Chicken soup has always been considered a nutritious delicacy, but Yu Kang, Director of the Department of Nutrition at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, believes that chicken soup is not highly nutritious. Moreover, the practice of many people who only drink the soup and discard the cooked meat is also inappropriate.
Although it has been simmered for a long time, chicken soup only contains water-soluble small-molecule substances dissolved from chicken oil, skin, meat, and bones. Besides that, it's just oil and calories, and its purine content is also very high. Objectively speaking, it is not nutritious.
Director Yu pointed out that drinking more chicken soup is actually a process of consuming more animal fat. For some patients with cardiovascular diseases and gout, drinking large amounts of chicken soup is very harmful to the body. In fact, the chicken in the soup is the truly nutritious treasure. At this point, the chicken has been stewed until very tender, making it easy to digest and beneficial for nutrient absorption. Director Yu suggests that for better nutrition, one should primarily eat the chicken in the soup and drink some of the soup appropriately as a seasoning. This is the scientific and effective way to nourish the body. Besides patients with cardiovascular diseases and gout, drinking chicken soup can also affect the following groups.
1. Excess stomach acid: Chicken soup can stimulate the secretion of stomach acid. Therefore, patients with gastric ulcers, hyperacidity, or stomach bleeding generally should not drink chicken soup.
2. Biliary tract diseases: Those who frequently suffer from cholecystitis and cholelithiasis should not drink too much chicken soup, because the digestion of fat in the soup requires bile participation. Drinking chicken soup will stimulate the gallbladder to contract, which can easily trigger an attack of cholecystitis.
3. Renal insufficiency: Chicken soup contains some small-molecule proteins. Patients with acute nephritis, acute or chronic renal insufficiency, or uremia cannot process the breakdown products of protein in a timely manner due to their impaired kidney function. Drinking too much chicken soup can cause azotemia and worsen their condition.