Rabbit meat and chicken meat have been reviewed by several authors and it has been concluded that in terms of nutrition and health benefits, they are very beneficial. But of the two, which is best for recommendation as an alternative source of protein and bioactive compounds?
I think it is difficult to give a concrete answer to your question, as this depends on many factors such as type of diets the animal gets and other surrounding factors.
In terms of fat percentage and crude protein, rabbit and chicken have almost the same amount. Litterature reports lower level of cholestrole in rabbit meat compared to chicken, but with the low fat percenatge in both, this has little to say.
If you go through nutrition facts in various food composition tables, you will find lots of information about most of the nutrient contents in rabbit- and chicken meat. Values of nutrients are often provided for both raw and cooked meat. Levels of micronutrients (vitamins and essential elements) are also provided there.
I think it is difficult to give a concrete answer to your question, as this depends on many factors such as type of diets the animal gets and other surrounding factors.
In terms of fat percentage and crude protein, rabbit and chicken have almost the same amount. Litterature reports lower level of cholestrole in rabbit meat compared to chicken, but with the low fat percenatge in both, this has little to say.
If you go through nutrition facts in various food composition tables, you will find lots of information about most of the nutrient contents in rabbit- and chicken meat. Values of nutrients are often provided for both raw and cooked meat. Levels of micronutrients (vitamins and essential elements) are also provided there.
Some links that might be useful:
Article (Meat Science 88(3):319-31, 2011. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/50363265_The_role_of_rabbit_meat_as_functional_food
http://www.wholefoods4pets.com/rabbit_info.pdf
http://www.scopemed.org/?mno=35705
http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0562e/T0562E0a.htm
Article The role of rabbit meat as functional food
This is a very complicated question. Feed, breed, age and many many factors can contribute to the quality variation within and among chicken and rabbit. It is difficult which one is better than another one.
One thing for sure. There is no such thing as kosher rabbit. Could be a disdvantage in some contexts.
In addition to the explanations already given, it should be noted that rabbit meat nutritionally belongs to the red meat category while chicken meat is white meat. Speaking nutritionally, white meats have more health benefits that red meats. Also note that nutritional definitions are sometimes different from culinary definitions. However, the question here is nutritional and health benefits and not culinary benefits.
in my opinion, all meat are good, If they are produced as naturally. That is, we always choose natural one. That's all.
Many proteins are beneficial, however, the method of cooking also contributes to the healthy consumption of the proteins. Plus in a society where one is more available than the other as a food source, this could tip the scales as to which is consumed.
Rabbit meat is a white meat and tend to have more of high density lipoprotein in its colesterol composition(good colesterol) against low density colesterol (bad colesterol)
Rabbit meat is quite comparable to chicken meat in both composition and flavor. A comparison of meats from the major food animals was done in the following project:
E. Nistor, et al. J Anim Prod Adv 2013, 3(4): 172-176
The problem with this report is that the chicken meat is analyzed with skin-on. This is not the way most people consume chicken meat and, as a result, the fat content is pushed up above what you would tend to find in a chicken dish.
All we can do is compare what is there. To call something "better" is highly subjective. While there are some minor differences, both rabbit and chicken are a healthy source of protein. However, there are some differences in the way they absorb and deposit nutrients. Being birds, chickens stand somewhat apart from mammals in areas such as management of lipid absorption, deposition and utilization. Depending on which bioactive product you were trying to increase in your meat product, there may be advantages to choosing one species over the other.
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