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What Organ Meat Has the Most Nutrients

Organ meats are certainly not for everybody. But, if you are looking for a densely packed concentration of a number of important nutrients, they may be for you more than you know. Organs meats include products that are unappetizing for some people: brains, heart, kidneys and lungs. “Prevention Magazine’s Nutrition Advisor" places beef liver at the top of its list of foods that are highest in vitamin A and riboflavin. Beef liver is also the highest-ranking organ meat on the book's list for vitamins B-6 and B-12.

Vitamin A

That same serving of beef liver contains 16,899 IU of vitamin A, which is 338 percent of the daily recommended intake. By contrast, beef kidney provides just 28 percent of the recommended daily intake with its 1,397 IU. When it comes to the amount of vitamin A, goose liver beats out beef liver with 30,998 IU of vitamin A, or more than 600 percent of the daily recommendation. Beef liver remains the healthier choice over goose liver, however, because the consumption of vastly larger amounts of vitamin A than is needed gets stored up in the body and can cause liver damage, fatigue and other health problems, according to “Foods that Harm, Foods that Heal.”

Vitamin B-12

When it comes to vitamin B-12, beef liver easily beats the brain and kidney. Beef liver provides nearly 1,000 percent of the daily recommended intake of vitamin B-12 in its 59.3 mcg. The brain from the same animal would add only 9.5 mcg of vitamin B-12 to your diet, while the cow’s kidneys contain 27.5 mcg of vitamin B-12 in a 100 g serving. The Office of Dietary Supplements division of the National Institutes of Health recommends vitamin B-12 because of its role in forming red blood cells and preventing anemia.

Riboflavin

The level of riboflavin found in beef liver is superior not only to the livers of chickens and geese, but also to a few of the other organ meats found in beef. A 100 g serving of beef liver contains 2.755 mg of riboflavin, which is more than 160 percent of the recommended daily intake. Beef heart provides .906 mg and its brain provides .199 mg. Only beef kidneys provide more at 2.84 mg. Turkey is the only other type of liver that comes close to being as rich a source of riboflavin as beef liver, but still manages to provide only 2.59 mg. According to “The New Encyclopedia of Vitamins, Minerals, Supplements and Herbs,” riboflavin is an essential element in the metabolic process that provides energy throughout the body.