If you could eat only one food item today, this might be the perfect choice

Triumphant return

This morning I sat down with my coffee to catch up on the news, and when I saw this headline I nearly did a spit take…

“Eggs may help prevent heart disease and cancer”

Was I reading The Onion?!

You’ve got to be yolking

But it wasn’t The Onion or any other parody. It was a University of Alberta press release, and it called eggs “one of nature’s perfect foods.” And that’s not an overstatement at all.

For many years now, while eggs have been shamed as heart-harming cholesterol bombs, I’ve been defending the egg as one of the most nutritious dietary choices you can make.

Eggs are loaded with a wide variety of nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids, essential amino acids, vitamins D and E, as well as key players in the B family (folate, choline, and riboflavin) and minerals, including calcium, potassium, and iron.

So it would actually be hard to show eggs to be better for us than previously thought. But the Alberta researches may have actually accomplished that.

Two years ago I told you about another trial from these same researchers. In that study they showed that digestive enzymes convert egg proteins into peptides that have the same effect as pharmaceutical ACE inhibitors, which lower high blood pressure.

The Alberta team believes those peptides also have antioxidant properties. And that’s what they’re in the hunt for right now: antioxidants.

In the newest Alberta study, researchers found that egg yolks are a very rich source of antioxidants. Analysis showed that two uncooked yolks contain the same level of antioxidants as an apple.

The key word there is “uncooked.” Cooking reduced antioxidants by half. Even so, a poached or boiled egg (with the yolk unbroken) still delivers a pretty good antioxidant punch.

But there’s an important angle the Alberta team doesn’t address: the free-range factor

Eggs analyzed in this new study were taken from chickens fed wheat and corn. In other words, the same feed given to chickens that produce the standard eggs you’ll find in grocery stores.

But research shows that egg nutrition is significantly boosted when the egg comes from an organically raised free-range chicken.

In research I told you about a few years ago, free-range eggs contained three times more omega-3 than conventionally raised eggs, twice as much vitamin E, 40 percent more vitamin A, 50 percent more folate, and 70 percent more vitamin B-12.

That’s a huge benefit!

And the eggs were much safer too. A UK government survey showed that eggs from chickens raised in factory farm cages are FIVE TIMES more likely to test positive for salmonella compared to eggs from organic, free-range birds.

Note to the Alberta team: Try testing a few free-range eggs and I’ll bet your antioxidant numbers soar!

Sources:
“Eggs may help prevent heart disease and cancer” Michel Proulx, University of Alberta, 6/28/11, ales.ualberta.ca

“The Good Egg” Cheryl Long and Umut Newbury, Mother Earth News, motherearthnews.com

“Salmonella Levels Over 5x Higher in Battery Eggs than Organic” Peter Shield, Natural Choices, 1/2/08, naturalchoices.co.uk