Besides being a popular food on its own, crab meat is the main ingredient in foods like crab cakes, crab soup and seafood stuffing. Many dishes that feature crab are very high in calories, fat and cholesterol, but that is not because of the crab meat. When cooked without the addition of butter, cream sauces and bread crumbs, crab meat is actually a valuable source of lean protein.
Calories
Crabs are a low-calorie food when steamed on their own; it's the dips and toppings that add calories. For example, a steamed blue crab has about 87 calories, but a fried soft-shell blue crab can have 334 calories. Watch your serving size, too -- crab meat of any type has about 0.8 calories per gram, but the size of the crab can vary. While 3 ounces is considered a serving, most people measure their serving by the crab, not the ounce. A typical blue crab has about 3 ounces of meat, but a Dungeness crab can provide 6 ounces of meat and pack twice as many calories.
Fat
Crab meat is very low in fat, ranging from one to 1 1/2 grams of fat per entire crab. A crab contains less than half of a gram of saturated fat when steamed plain. In fact, the fat that crab meat does contain is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are thought to promote cardiovascular health.
Protein/Carbohydrates
Being an animal product, crab meat is free of carbohydrates, but it does contain plenty of protein -- up to 5 grams per ounce depending upon the type. Three ounces of blue crab meat has 17 grams of protein, and 6 ounces of Dungeness crab meat has about 29 grams of protein. Alaskan king crab is the most potent protein source, with 31.5 grams of protein per leg.
Colesterol/Sodium
Many people think that crab meat is high in cholesterol, but that is only partially true. Blue crabs do have 28 mg per ounce, but Dungeness crabs have 22 mg and Alaskan king crabs have only 15 mg per ounce. Chicken and steak, which are commonly eaten instead of seafood, contain 22 mg and 25 mg of cholesterol per ounce respectively, so comparatively, crab meat is not the cholesterol bomb many people assume it is. Crab meat contains about 80 mg of sodium per ounce across the board.
Possible Contaminants
Most seafood contains at least trace amounts of methylmercury and polychlorinated biphenyls, but according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, crab meat is one of the least-contaminated seafoods. Even pregnant or breastfeeding women can safely consume up to 12 ounces of crab per week. Healthy adults can consume as much shellfish as they would like without risking illness, but you should vary the type of seafood to avoid building up mercury levels from any one kind. Dr. Harvey Fineberg, president of the Institute of Medicine in Washington, D.C., says that the benefits of eating shellfish far outweigh the risks.
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