What are the nutritional benefits of pigeon? Find out clearly in one article
The nutritional value of pigeon
Pigeon, also known as white phoenix, and also called domestic pigeon or rock pigeon, is a vertebrate of the class Aves, order Columbiformes, family Columbidae. The ancestor of the pigeon is the wild rock pigeon. The nutritional value of pigeon is extremely high; it is both a precious delicacy and a high-grade tonic. Pigeon meat is a high-protein, low-fat food, with a protein content of 24.47%, exceeding that of rabbit, beef, pork, mutton, chicken, duck, goose and dog meat. The protein it contains includes many essential amino acids for the human body, and its digestion and absorption rate is 95%. The fat content of pigeon meat is only 0.73%, lower than other meats, making it an ideal food for humans. Pigeon eggs are called “animal ginseng” and are rich in protein.
In ancient times there was the court proverb “Better to eat one bite of a bird in the sky than a dou of what is sold on the ground.” Today there are sayings: “Meat pigeon rivals ginseng,” “One pigeon beats nine chickens,” and “No pigeon, no banquet.” Pigeon meat is not only rich in nutrients but also has certain health benefits and can prevent and treat many diseases. The Compendium of Materia Medica records that “pige feathers come in many colors, but only the white ones are used as medicine.” From ancient times to the present, traditional Chinese medicine holds that pigeon meat has the effects of tonifying the liver and strengthening the kidneys, boosting qi and nourishing blood, clearing heat and detoxifying, and promoting fluid production and quenching thirst. Modern medicine holds that pigeon meat strengthens the body and tonifies the kidneys, boosts vitality, benefits the brain and nourishes the spirit, improves memory, lowers blood pressure, regulates blood sugar, beautifies the skin, makes the skin fair and delicate, and prolongs life.
Among poultry, pigeon was the first variety to be rated as green food by the China Green Food Development Center and promoted to the market. Research in modern medicine, life sciences and nutrition shows that the nutritional index of pigeon ranks first among biological foods. Each kilogram of pigeon body contains 0.2X10.6 joules of energy, and the digestion and absorption rate can reach over 91%. Pigeons have an extraordinary neural positioning control system, and their brains secrete abundant neurotransmitters. The pigeon is the only poultry animal without a gallbladder; its liver stores abundant bilin, its blood contains abundant hemoglobin, and its bone marrow contains a large amount of chondroitin. These special nutritional components have a special therapeutic effect on regulating the human brain nervous system, improving sleep, increasing appetite, aiding digestion, activating gonadal secretion and pituitary secretion, and even comprehensively balancing human body functions, conditioning and strengthening the body.
Pigeon is also a precious traditional Chinese medicinal material and has long been known as “ginseng among meats.” Pigeon liver contains the best bilin, which can help the human body make good use of cholesterol and prevent arteriosclerosis. Folk tradition calls the pigeon a "sweet-blood animal"; people with anemia benefit from eating it and it helps restore health. Pigeon bones are rich in chondroitin, comparable to the chondroitin in deer antler. Regular consumption can improve skin cell vitality, enhance skin elasticity, improve blood circulation, and give a rosy complexion.
Pigeon meat is also rich in pantothenic acid, which has a good therapeutic effect on hair loss, white hair and premature aging before hair growth. Pigeon contains relatively more branched-chain amino acids and arginine, which can promote protein synthesis in the body and speed up wound healing. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that pigeon meat is easy to digest and has the functions of nourishing and boosting qi and dispelling wind and detoxifying. It has a good tonic and therapeutic effect on weakness after illness, blood-deficiency amenorrhea, dizziness and fatigue, and memory decline. Pigeon meat is both a precious dish and a high-grade tonic. As the dietary therapy and medicinal tonic effects of meat pigeon become more prominent, it has attracted great attention from the fields of medicine, nutrition and animal husbandry.
The dietary therapy effects of meat pigeon
1. Nutritional tonic, strengthens tendons and bones, and improves human body functions. Pigeon is rich in protein, with a reasonable amino acid composition, and is easy for the human body to digest and absorb. Eating more pigeon can give cells sufficient nutrition, make the whole body's organs full of vitality, and keep metabolism smooth. Eating stewed pigeon soup can moisten the lungs and brighten the eyes, tonify deficiency and fatigue, strengthen tendons and bones, and restore physical strength, eyesight and mental power. It is an excellent tonic dish for proposal staff to restore physical strength and enhance physical fitness. Eating pigeon soup with Chinese yam, goji berries and coix seed can relieve itching and treat dry rough skin, keeping the skin smooth. Eating braised pigeon with shiitake mushrooms can promote blood circulation, prevent aging and prolong youth.
2. Beauty and skin care, strengthen the body, and always maintain youthful vitality. Pigeon meat is rich in various nutrients, and its chondroitin content is comparable to deer antler. Regular consumption of pigeon can increase nutrition, improve human body functions, make people energetic and the skin radiant, and has the effect of maintaining youth, and can also promote sexual function. Eating stewed pigeon with goji berries is not only delicious but also has the medicinal effect of nourishing and strengthening the body, achieving the goal of prolonging life.
3. Speed up physical recovery and promote wound healing. Red bean pigeon soup is a well-known tonic. This soup is rich in pigeon collagen and has the effect of healing wounds. In addition, red beans have the effects of nourishing blood, reducing fever and reducing inflammation, and can promote physical recovery and wound healing and repair scars. It is suitable for recovery tonics for patients after various surgeries, and regular consumption by the elderly can slow the appearance of age spots and keep the skin smooth.
4. Boost intelligence and nourish the brain, and prolong life. Pigeon brain is rich in cephalin, which can promote metabolic renewal within tissue cells and can delay the aging of brain tissue and nerve cells. After consumption, physical strength increases, thinking becomes clear, and memory greatly improves. It plays an important role in the intellectual development of mental workers, students and children.
5. Improve hair loss and prevent waist and leg pain, rheumatism and neuropathy. Pigeon meat is rich in B vitamins and pantothenic acid, which have a therapeutic effect on symptoms such as waist and leg pain. People who need to stand for long periods and some manual workers often develop waist and leg pain, and regular consumption of pigeon can relieve symptoms. Pantothenic acid is also effective for male scrotal eczema. Eating asparagus pigeon soup can dissolve uric acid in muscles and accelerate the excretion of uric acid from the human body, so as to prevent it from remaining in the body and causing diseases such as rheumatism and neuralgia. Regular consumption of asparagus pigeon soup can eliminate fatigue and restore energy. It has a significant effect on athletes and outdoor workers. Eating coix seed pigeon soup can refresh the mind, promote flexible muscle activity, improve blood circulation, reduce inflammation and relieve pain, and can treat swelling. It can also eliminate calculus, especially effective for gallstones.
6. Prevent arteriosclerosis and treat dizziness, high blood pressure and senile asthma. Pigeon liver stores the best bilin, which can assist the human body in using cholesterol, and its own cholesterol content is very low, which can reduce the infection rate of arteriosclerosis and other diseases. Medicinal formula: boiling pigeon with buckwheat or buckwheat flowers in soup or braising it can treat dizziness and high blood pressure. Because buckwheat contains rutin and diamino acids, it has a mild laxative effect and can prevent cerebral hemorrhage and stroke in patients with high blood pressure. Formula for treating senile asthma: pinch the pigeon's nose tightly with your hand, suffocate the pigeon to death, then pluck the feathers, burn the fine down with paper and wash it clean, then rinse it with salt water, put it into a clay pot with an appropriate amount of red rice, and cook it into porridge to eat. Persisting in taking it can cure or relieve symptoms.
7. Treat women's dysmenorrhea, infertility, amenorrhea and other conditions, and prevent miscarriage. Medicinal formula: lettuce pigeon soup contains a large amount of vitamin E and other nutrients, has the effect of purifying blood and enhancing efficacy, can treat women's dysmenorrhea and infertility, and also has the effects of brightening the eyes and treating insomnia and sore throat. Medicinal formula: 1 white pigeon, with a small amount of konjac (fried until scorched), bat guano, turtle shell and tortoise plastron, stewed together with the pigeon and eaten. Medicinal formula: stewed pigeon with astragalus and goji berries can treat uterine or bladder tilt in women and prevent miscarriage in pregnant women.
8. Treat insomnia and neurasthenia. Medicinal formula: stir-fried pigeon with onion has good effects of aiding sleep and relieving pain, enhances digestion, and treats neurasthenia and insomnia and other conditions.
Therefore, as people's living standards improve, pigeon farming has great development potential. Pigeon meat is delicious and rich in nutrients. It is a world-recognized excellent meat variety and is very popular in developed countries and regions. Many people are optimistic about its development potential.