"Eat your liver, it's good for you," may be the understatement of all time. In 1934, three physicians won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering that liver successfully treated pernicious anemia. This highlights the incredible nutritional value available through even a small serving of beef liver.
Basic Nutrition
The serving size used for this nutritional analysis is 100 grams, which is slightly less than a quarter pound portion and has only 135 calories. Beef liver is a great source of high-quality protein, with one serving providing 41 percent of the total recommended daily value (DV). While it only has 4 grams of total fat (or six percent DV), the one downside to beef liver is that is has 275 mg of cholesterol. This is a huge amount, representing 92 percent DV of cholesterol.
Vitamins
You may not think of beef liver as having vitamin C, but it supplies 2 percent of this antioxidant. It's a tremendous source of seven B vitamins, providing 162 percent DV of riboflavin, 72 percent DV of pantothenic acid, 72 percent DV of folate, 66 percent DV of niacin, and 54 percent DV of vitamin B6. With 13 percent DV, liver is also a good source of thiamine. Beef liver has two vitamins in quantities that exceed all the rest. It provides 338 percent of the daily value of vitamin A and a substantial 988 percent of vitamin B12.
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means that excess amounts are stored in tissues in the body and can become toxic. According to the Merck Manual, chronic toxicity in adults can develop if 150,000 to 350,000 IU are consumed daily, although osteoporosis may develop if more than 4,500 IU are consumed on a daily basis. For comparison, one 100-gram serving of beef liver provides 16,898 IU of vitamin A.
Minerals
Beef liver is a great source of most essential minerals but provides a huge amount of copper (488 percent DV). It also supplies selenium (57 percent DV), phosphorus (39 percent DV), iron and zinc (27 percent DV for both), and manganese (16 percent DV). Beef liver provides smaller amounts of potassium (9 percent DV), magnesium (5 percent DV), sodium (three percent DV), and calcium (one percent DV).
Other Nutrients
It doesn't quite balance the amount of cholesterol, but beef liver also provides some of the heart-healthy fats. It has 7 mg of omega-3 and 318 mg of omega-6 fatty acids. Another important nutrient found in beef liver is choline. It supplies 333 mg of choline and that's almost the entire amount of the recommended daily intake of 425 mg a day for women and 550 mg a day for men.
Health Benefit
While beef liver contributes to so many different aspects of overall health, one specific benefit is found from finding such large quantities of vitamins B12, B6, and folate in one source. These vitamins reduce the levels of homocysteine in the blood and that results in improving cardiovascular health and decreasing your risk of having a heart attack.
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