rawmilkandrubberboots

It seems another “age-old” myth has been laid on my desk.  Are omega-3 enriched eggs worth it?  Now before you think I put the weasel in the henhouse, I, as usual, present facts from scholarly references (available upon request) and merely put the pieces together for you the viewing audience to digest and ponder.   

I asked a fellow graduate this question quite some time ago at her thesis defence as she purposed that feeding ingredient X (of marine origin) may increase omega-3 fatty acid content of her eggs making them a value-added food for humans.  Having dealt with these fatty acids in my own research (and was faced with a similar question) I asked if cooking an omega-3 egg would destroy these important fatty acids therefore rendering the egg as just another infertile avian embryo (which is what eggs are if you think about it).  Well you could see the ruffled feathers that day, all in the name of research; so I tried to get to the bottom of this, what I thought might be possible conspiracy theory and another marketing ploy.

  Research from the University of Nebraska found that people looking to get their omega-3 fix from eggs would have to crack open FOUR eggs a day to replace the one meal of oily fish.  Four!  Most people struggle eating four eggs a week, myself included.  From this research one can conclude that omega-3 eggs are what they’re cracked up to be if you want to eat 2 cases of eggs a week.

My next question, and maybe the most complex, will omega-3 fatty acids in eggs survive the cooking process?  Here’s the yes, no, maybe, who cares answer I have uncovered.  Even though people poach eggs and fish (play on words… sorry) consumers do not want their eggs to taste fishy which is a determinant factor of oxidation of omega-3 fatty acids. 

The Flax Council of Canada published a review of enriched eggs and said that when marine sources of omega-3’s (i.e. fish oil or algae oil) were included in poultry diets even in amounts as low as 3% there was a definite flavour associated with them.  This is backed by researchers from University of Alberta who found that even at temperatures as low (for cooking) as 25C there was an effect on flavour quality.  This is proof that the omega-3’s had oxidized (either because of storage or cooking) before it reached the plates of consumers. Being the Flax Council, they recommended that flaxseed be used as the omega-3 fatty acid (linolenic acid) found in flaxseed is more stable than marine sourced omega-3’s (see my blog: Omega-3’s Back to the Source, for more info on the differences between land and sea omega-3’s).

So now you are again armed with the knowledge to make your own decision whether or not you want to spend the money on flax-fed eggs when you are really concerned about increasing your DHA intake, and whether you want to eat 4 eggs to offset a meal of salmon.

Another myth has been cracked.  That was over-easy (I’m going to stop with the egg jokes before I hurt myself)!

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