However, chicken is far from being a healthy food. For one thing, chicken is not low in fat. Light, skinless chicken derives about 18 percent of calories from fat. Skinless roast dark meat chicken is 32 percent fat. Even without the skin, nine grams of fat remain.
Chicken contains artery- clogging saturated fat.
The cholesterol content of chicken is comparable to that of beef, about 25 milligrams per ounce. 4 Cholesterol is mainly in the lean portions of meat. The saturated fats that permeate these portions raise cholesterol by stimulating the liver to make more cholesterol. By contrast, plants have no cholesterol. In addition to fat and cholesterol, food poisoning is a major problem.