Not All Eggs are Created Equal - Learn About the Benefits of Organic Eggs
Living Well is now the proud owner/caretaker of several new chickens. And, yes, that means fresh organic eggs everyday! The idea that eggs, as a source of saturated fats, are unhealthy and promote heart disease is a complete myth. While it's true that fats from animal sources contain cholesterol, this is not necessarily something that will harm you. On the contrary, the evidence clearly shows that eggs are one of the most healthful foods you can eat, and can actually help prevent disease, including heart disease.
Eggs are also an incredible source of high-quality protein and fat—nutrients that many are deficient in. And I believe eggs are a nearly ideal fuel source for most of us.
However, there are two caveats:
Free-range or “pastured” organic eggs are far superior when it comes to nutrient content, and
Cooking destroys many of these nutrients, so ideally, you’ll want to consume your eggs raw (but ONLY if they’re pastured organic, asconventionally-raised eggs are far more likely to be contaminated with disease-causing bacteria such as salmonella)
An egg is considered organic if the chicken was only fed organic food, which means it will not have accumulated high levels of pesticides from the grains (mostly GM corn) fed to typical chickens.
Additionally, testing has confirmed that true free-range eggs are far more nutritious than commercially raised eggs. In a 2007 egg-testing project, Mother Earth News compared the official U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) nutrient data for commercial eggs with eggs from hens raised on pasture and found that the latter typically contains:
1/3 less cholesterol
1/4 less saturated fat
2/3 more vitamin A
2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
3 times more vitamin E
7 times more beta carotene
The dramatically superior nutrient levels are most likely the result of the differences in diet between free ranging, pastured hens and commercially farmed hens.
