Is turkey really that good for me?

Absolutely! Turkey is great for you! It is perfect for daily meals, on your training table and for snacking. If you make health and fitness a priority then you will find the following information quite interesting. It is provided by www.whfoods.org.

"There is probably no other food that evokes images of celebration, family, friends and giving thanks than turkey. November is the month noted as the season for enjoying turkey but its wonderful taste and nutritional value should not be reserved just for the holidays as it is available to enjoy year-round.

The rise in popularity of this lean meat has been spurred by the increased availability of individual turkey pieces such as breasts, tenderloins, cutlets and ground turkey. These alternatives to cooking a whole turkey have made it more convenient for people to easily incorporate turkey into their diets.

Health Benefits
Turkey is a very good source of protein. A four ounce serving provides 65.1% of the daily value for protein, along with 11.9% of the daily value for saturated fat, about half the amount of saturated fat found in red meat. The structure of the human body is built on protein. We use animal and plant sources of protein for our amino acids and rearrange the nitrogen to make the pattern of amino acids we require.

Cancer-protective Selenium
Turkey is a very good source of the trace mineral, selenium. Selenium is of fundamental importance to human health. It is an essential component of several major metabolic pathways, including thyroid hormone metabolism, antioxidant defense systems, and immune function. Accumulated evidence from prospective studies, intervention trials and studies on animal models of cancer have suggested a strong inverse correlation between selenium intake and cancer incidence.

Several mechanisms have been suggested to explain the cancer-preventive activities of selenium. Selenium has been shown to induce DNA repair and synthesis in damaged cells, to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells, and to induce their apoptosis, the self-destruct sequence the body uses to eliminate worn out or abnormal cells. In addition, selenium is incorporated at the active site of many proteins, including glutathione peroxidase, which may be the most important for cancer protection. One of the body's most powerful antioxidant enzymes, glutathione peroxidase is used in the liver to detoxify a wide range of potentially harmful molecules. When levels of glutathione peroxidase are too low, these toxic molecules are not disarmed and wreak havoc on any cells with which they come in contact, damaging their cellular DNA and promoting the development of cancer cells. Just four ounces of turkey provide 47.1% of the daily value for selenium.

Turkey is also a good source of another cancer-protective nutrient, the B vitamin, niacin. Components of DNA require niacin, and a deficiency of niacin (as well as other B-complex vitamins) has been directly linked to genetic (DNA) damage.

B vitamins for Energy and Cardiovascular Protection
Turkey is a good source not only of niacin, but also vitamin B6. These two B vitamins are important for energy production. In addition to its DNA actions, niacin is essential for the conversion of the body's proteins, fats, and carbohydrates into usable energy. Niacin helps optimize blood sugar regulation via its actions as a component of a molecule called glucose tolerance factor, which optimizes insulin activity.

Vitamin B6 is essential for the body's processing of carbohydrate (sugar and starch), especially the breakdown of glycogen, the form in which sugar is stored in muscle cells and to a lesser extent in our liver. Along with vitamin B12, vitamin B6 plays a pivotal role as a methyl donor in the basic cellular process of methylation, through which methyl groups are transferred from one molecule to another, resulting in the formation of a wide variety of very important active molecules. When levels of B6 or B12 are inadequate, the availability of methyl groups is also lessened. One result of the lack of methyl groups is that molecules that would normally be quickly changed into other types of molecules not only do not change, but accumulate. One such molecule, homocysteine, is so damaging to blood vessel walls that high levels are considered a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Four-ounces of turkey supplies 27.0% of your daily needs for vitamin B6.

Description
For most people, the thought of turkey evokes images of family, friends, celebration and giving thanks since it has long been associated with holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Yet, recently turkey has added something more to its repetoire than being a holiday food. It is now thought of as a delicious and nutritious meat that can be enjoyed on any day of the year. The rise in popularity of this lean meat has also been spurred by the increased availability of individual turkey pieces such as breasts, tenderloins, cutlets and ground turkey. These alternatives to cooking a whole turkey have made it more convenient for people to easily incorporate turkey into their diets."