Nutrition of Lamb Liver

While you might not think of it at first, lamb liver might be a good way of getting some nutrient-rich food into your regular diet. Lamb’s liver is very tender, much like calf’s liver, but with a less pronounced taste. Lamb’s liver can be found in grocery stores or by special request to a butcher. Just like calf's liver, it can be cooked in many ways.

A 4-ounce serving of lamb’s liver has 157 calories, no dietary fiber and only 2 grams of carbohydrate per serving. While liver is a healthy and nutrient-rich food source, it is rarely served alone, and so the cooking method and accompaniments can greatly increase the calorie and nutrient content of the food. Recommended cooking methods include dry-heat cooking, such as roasting, grilling or sauteing, with only a small amount of added fat.

Lamb liver is a low-fat source of protein, with only 5.7 grams of total fat and a little over 23 grams of protein per 4-ounce serving. But there are almost equal amounts of saturated and unsaturated fats in lamb’s liver, and a single serving has 419 milligrams of cholesterol. The recommended upper limit for cholesterol is 300 milligrams per day and no more than 11 to 13 grams of saturated fat for people on a 2,000-calorie-per-day diet, according to the American Heart Association.

Lamb’s liver is a good source of many essential minerals, particularly iron. A 4-ounce serving has 8.3 milligrams of iron and 354 milligrams of potassium. This provides over 100 percent of the daily recommendation of iron for all adult men and women over the age of 50. It provides 46 percent of the recommendation for adult women 50 and under. Iron is essential for producing blood cells, and it helps form the oxygen-bearing hemoglobin and myoglobin. Lamb's liver is a rich source of phosphorous and zinc and also contains calcium and magnesium.

Lamb’s liver contains a range of vitamins, including members of the vitamin B complex and vitamin C, and it is particularly rich in vitamin A. A 4-ounce serving contains well over 100 percent of the daily dietary intake of vitamin A for all adults, with 8,352 micrograms per serving. While getting enough vitamin A is essential for healthy vision, regular and normal cell reproduction and maintaining a healthy embryo and fetus, too much vitamin A can also be toxic. Excess vitamin A is stored in your body’s fats for future use, so regularly eating large amounts of lamb liver could lead to a vitamin toxicity. Excess vitamin A in your system, however, is mostly due to taking too many vitamin supplements and not as a result of foods.