Eggs are an inexpensive and highly nutritious food, providing ~18 important vitamins and minerals. Its composition can be affected by several factors such as hen diet, age, strain as well as environmental factors. In particular, eggs may play a useful role in the diets of those at risk of low-nutrient intakes such as the elderly, pregnant women and children
Egg contains 72-74%proteins which are well balanced with respect to all the essential amino acids. Hence it is used as standard against which the chemical score of other proteins is compared.
The contents of two eggs provide nearly 25% of daily protein requirements of an adult man. Besides egg proteins have an excellent supplementary value to all other plant protein foods. For example, cereal proteins are poor in amino acid, lysine. Pulses and oilseed proteins are poor in sulphur containing amino acid cysteine. Hence a combination of egg with any of the cereal or cereal pulse mixture will enhance the protein quality of food.
An egg consists of 2 major parts – egg white & yolk.
EGG WHITE
- Mostly made of water, high quality protein and some minerals
- Represents 2/3 of the egg’s weight (without shell)
- When a fresh egg is broken, the thick albumen stands up firmly around the yolk
YOLK
- The egg’s major source of vitamins and minerals, including protein and essential fatty acids.
- All the fat soluble vitamins like vitamin A, D, E and K as well as all the carotenoids, lutein and zeaxanthin are present in the yolk of the egg
- Represents 1/3 of the egg’s weight (without shell)
- Yolk colour ranges from light yellow to deep orange, depending on the hen’s food
VITAMIN D FORTIFIED EGGS
With almost 70% of the population suffering from vitamin D deficiency, increasing the vitamin D3 content of eggs can make a huge difference. vitamin D can be naturally available from egg laying hens that are allowed to feed freely in open spaces also called as free -range farming. we know that exposure to sunlight helps the body to naturally synthesize vitamin D. Eggs from outdoor hens contain 3-4 times higher amount of vitamin D3 than caged/ indoor hens.
The other alternative is to fortify the eggs. research is on to produce eggs with 100 – 500 IU vitamin D, which can help meet the recommended daily requirement of vitamin D for children or adults
OMEGA 3 FORTIFIED EGGS
The content of n-3 fatty acids in eggs and egg-derived products can be increased, either through feed modifications for hens or through technological methods (in the case of egg-derived products). Depending on whether or not we want to produce a product that gets the statement “source of omega-3 fatty acids” or “high in omega-3”, we may choose to supplement the product with a specific raw material.
Egg has lot of nutrients and consuming eggs can help you in making your diet healthier and more balanced. It’s highly recommenced to include it as a part of your daily diet, especially if your diet needs to be rich in proteins.
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