As we age our doctors urge us to maintain healthy diets to ward off common problems of aging and to help maintain heart health. One aim is to lower the fat in our diet. Many people eat much less red meat than they did in years previous, with chicken becoming more popular over the past ten years. However, pork, often labeled “the other white meat” beats out chicken for fat content, a pork tenderloin containing 2.98 grams of fat per three ounces as compared to 3.03 grams of fat per three ounces of skinless chicken breast.

Pork has had a hard time catching up in popularity to chicken, however, due to misconceptions it has had difficulty shaking. Pork used to have a reputation that included the danger of trichinosis, a worm parasite, which is no longer a risk with pork in the US. One misconception is of pork as a fatty meat, but pork farmers have long been working on producing leaner hogs and using technology and breeding to produce meat that can appeal to the low-fat consciousness of American consumers.

In protein and carbohydrate content, pork and chicken are nearly equal but pork contains higher amounts of vitamin B-6 than most meats.

So, if you are watching your fat intake and are looking for a change from the usual fare, why not check out “the other white meat”?