Duck is a particularly greasy and fatty bird. The fat content of a raw duck that includes the skin is significantly greater than that of a raw duck minus the skin. Anyone eating a heart-healthy diet that includes duck is going to want to eat it without skin. Once you get past the skin, the bird can provide a high degree of many vitamins and minerals. Those suffering from gout need to beware, however.
Fat
A comparison of the nutritional data label for one ready-to-cook duck that is skinless vs. one with the skin intact reveals the enormous difference in fat content. A skinless 5-ounce serving of duck provides just 181 calories and 8.15 grams of fat. However, a 10-ounce serving of duck with the skin intact offers 1,159 calories and 112.91 grams of fat. Eating a skinless duck means taking in just 13 percent of the recommended daily intake of fat, while the duck with skin gives you 174 percent of the recommended daily intake.
Cholesterol
Even duck without skin has a high level of cholesterol. Those 5 ounces of skinless duck are going to add 105 mg of cholesterol, while leaving the skin on ups the ante to 218 mg. That means you will be consuming 73 percent of the entire amount of cholesterol you should get in a day by leaving the skin on. Taking the skin off still means you will take in more than a third of the recommended level of cholesterol. Duck should become part of a low-cholesterol diet plan only on very rare occasions.
Iron
One benefit of going with duck that keeps the skin on is a higher amount of iron. Skinless duck still offers a high amount of iron, with 3.29 mg, or 18 percent of the recommended daily intake, for 5 ounces. When you leave the skin on the duck, that iron content shoots up to 6.89 mg for 10 ounces, accounting for 38 percent of the recommended daily intake. Duck provides heme iron, which is the form of this mineral most easily absorbed into the body, according to “Prevention Magazine’s Nutrition Advisor." Iron stimulates production of hemoglobin and is an essential part of enzymatic processes that form protein.
Niacin
Duck contains high amounts of niacin. The 7.261 mg of niacin found in skinless duck will give you 36 percent of your recommended daily intake, while the 11.291 mg of niacin in duck with the skin intact provides more than half the amount of niacin you need in a day. According to the Mayo Clinic, one of the chief benefits of this B vitamin is its ability to raise “good” cholesterol levels by as much as 35 percent.
Purines
Anyone suffering from gout should approach eating duck with some caution. According to drugs.com, ducks are among the food products that are highest in purines, a substance that the body turns into uric acid, which can aggravate gout, a painful joint condition.
References
- Healthaliciousness.com: Nutritional Value of Duck
- Mayo Clinic: Niacin to Boost Your Good Cholesterol
- "Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor"; Mark Bricklin; 1993
- Drugs.com: Foods with Purines
- "Minerals, Supplements and Vitamins"; H. Winter Griffith; 2000
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