Eggs with 22x more healthy omega-3's?

**Eggs with 22x more omega-3's?

I'm always amazed how many people overlook the importance
of what an animal was fed and how that relates to the
nutritional benefits of that product.

Eggs are a perfect example.

As you probably know, the egg supply in the US comes mostly
from factory farm chickens that not only live in horrendously
unhealthy conditions for the chicken, but also fed an unnatural
diet of grains that SEVERELY affects the nutritional qualities
of the eggs for your health.

I've been digging around on this topic for a long time, and here
are some interesting things I've found:

In general, the regular eggs you get at the supermarket (that
are fed grains and are from factory farms) contain anywhere
from 30mg to 80mg omega-3 fatty acids per egg (depending
on egg size, variety of hens, exact ratio of feed, etc)

However, hens allowed to roam freely outdoors and/or fed a
diverse feed of greens, mixed vegetables, bugs, grubs, worms,
etc can contain anywhere from 300mg to 700mg of omega-3's
per egg.

One such study came from a Dr. Simopoulos who analyzed
the omega-3 vs omega-6 content of eggs from a farm in Greece
where the chickens roamed freely and ate a variety of natural
foods such as greens and bugs/worms. These eggs were
compared against analysis of "supermarket eggs" fed a typical
grain diet in the US.

The eggs from the free roaming chickens in Greece had an
omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of 1.3 to 1 while the "supermarket
eggs" had a horrendous omega-6/omega3 ratio of 19.4 to 1.

As for total omega-3 content per egg in Simopoulos' report,
the eggs from the free-roaming hens in Greece had 300 mg
of omega-3's per egg, while the "supermarket egg" had a lowly
30mg of omega-3's per egg.

I've also been reading the inside of egg cartons at grocery stores
lately and comparing notes on their label claims of omega-3
fatty acids.

The egg producers recently have been catching on to the
public's knowledge of the reduced omega-3 content in mass
produced eggs...so certain brands have now been "fortifying"
the hens diet with feed additions higher in omega-3's to help
balance out the excess omega-6's found in eggs from
grain-fed hens.

Usually, this fortification occurs by adding either flax seed or
an algae meal (or fish meal) to the hens feed. The hens eat
more omega-3's and that produces a higher omega-3 content
in the eggs.

Some of these so-called "omega-3 eggs" have label claims
anywhere from 100mg omega-3's to 250mg omega-3's...
Definitely better than the 30mg omega-3's found in the
typical "supermarket eggs".

I also stumbled onto a specific brand of eggs recently that
touted that it's hens are fed a patented feed mixture of 20
different vegetables, grains, and minerals. Because of the
diverse diet that these hens are fed, their measured
omega-3 content is listed as 660mg omega-3's per egg,
as well as a perfect 1:1 ratio of omega-6 to omega-3.

This is 22x the omega-3 content of the grain-fed "supermarket
egg" that contained only 30mg omega-3's in Dr. Simopoulos'
report.

That just shows how powerful of a difference in the nutrition
composition that occurs simply by feeding the hens a proper
diverse diet. And we haven't even touched on the nutritional
content of vitamins, minerals, carotenoids, etc that will
obviously be higher in a healthy hen fed a diverse diet as
opposed to a factory farmed hen.

However, that's only a small step in the right direction. Even
these egg companies with new label claims of increased
omega-3 content still doesn't guarantee that the hens were
raised in an outdoor environment, and allowed to roam freely
instead of being confined in cages and kept indoors in filthy
conditions their entire lives.

Keep in mind that "cage-free" doesn't always mean that the
hens actually go outside... according to some reports, it only
means that there is a small door somewhere that the hens
COULD go outside if they found the small door and were
smart enough to venture through it. This could vary vastly
from company to company.

This is supposedly a loophole in the whole cage-free labeling
system. I'm not sure if there's any way currently to know IF
the chickens actually ventured outside even when they're
labeled "cage-free".

So what are the best options?

1. By FAR the best option is if you can find a local farmer
where you KNOW that the hens are actually outdoors most
of the time and allowed to eat a natural diet with high variety.
These will be the superstar eggs in terms of nutritional quality.

This could be at farmers markets or even farmers that deliver
to urban areas (which I've found in every state I've lived, so it's
not impossible).

2. Ok, I understand that not everyone will be able to find a
local farmer or a farmer that delivers eggs from happy hens
that roam freely eating what chickens were meant to eat...the
world isn't perfect...

So, the next best option is to read the labels on egg cartons and
see if it sounds like the hens were fed a highly variable diet
(instead of just grains). Sometimes this can come from algae
meal or flax seed, etc added to their diet. This is at least an
improvement over standard supermarket eggs.

Despite what you may hear from some so-called "health
experts" who say that all eggs are equal, these types of eggs
WILL have nutritional benefits compared to your typical
supermarket eggs.

Also, look for organic as well as antibiotic and hormone-free
if possible. "Cage-free" may or may not always be an
improvement depending on the company.

And lastly, if you read articles or hear people telling you that
whole eggs are unhealthy because of saturated fat and
cholesterol, please tell them (in a nice way) to GET A CLUE!

That's not how it works... look for a previous article I did about
whole eggs vs egg whites, which also touches on the saturated
fat and choesterol topic.

Eat clean and stay lean.
Jorma Persson

P.S. Click here to find out more about a healthy life style plan.