Chicken can be a great alternative to red meat for diabetics. Particularly, chicken intake has been studied in relation to kidney disease.
Kidney disease often develops in diabetics, partly due to high blood sugar. A low-protein diet is helpful for treating diabetic kidney disease, but is difficult to follow.
However, various studies showed that replacing red meat with chicken, without eating less protein, has similar effects as a low-protein diet.
In type 1 diabetics, replacing red meat with chicken and fish, for 3 weeks, resulted in improved markers of kidney disease. In fact, the improvements with the fish and chicken diet were similar to a low-protein vegetarian diet.43
Subsequent studies on type 2 diabetics confirmed the kidney-protective effects of replacing red meat with chicken.44-46
Note that, when it comes to protein-rich foods like chicken, more is NOT better. Large amounts of protein is still unhealthy, even in the form of chicken. Therefore, I would not try to eat as much chicken as possible, or any other protein source. Rather, I’d try to keep protein intake at normal levels, and replace red meat with chicken.
- Pecis M, de Azevedo MJ, Gross JL. Chicken and fish diet reduces glomerular hyperfiltration in IDDM patients. Diabetes Care. Jul 1994;17(7):665-672.
- Gross JL, Zelmanovitz T, Moulin CC, et al. Effect of a chicken-based diet on renal function and lipid profile in patients with type 2 diabetes: a randomized crossover trial. Diabetes Care. Apr 2002;25(4):645-651.
- de Mello VD, Zelmanovitz T, Azevedo MJ, de Paula TP, Gross JL. Long-term effect of a chicken-based diet versus enalapril on albuminuria in type 2 diabetic patients with microalbuminuria. J Ren Nutr. Sep 2008;18(5):440-447.
- de Mello VD, Zelmanovitz T, Perassolo MS, Azevedo MJ, Gross JL. Withdrawal of red meat from the usual diet reduces albuminuria and improves serum fatty acid profile in type 2 diabetes patients with macroalbuminuria. Am J Clin Nutr. May 2006;83(5):1032-1038.