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Unscrambling myths about eggs

(Mar 5, 2008) White or brown? Free range or organic? Which are the healthiest eggs for your family?

Birds of a feather
There is no nutritional difference between white eggs or brown.

It all comes down to feathers. Hens with white feathers produce white eggs. Hens with brown feathers produce brown eggs. More exotic breeds such as the araucana or ameraucana produce blue eggs. Of course, when you start to dye your Easter eggs you'll want to use white eggs.

An egg is an egg is egg
Contrary to popular belief, brown eggs are not healthier than white eggs.

The colour of the yolk has nothing to do with nutritional value as well but everything to do with diet. The more carotene or vitamin A eaten by the hen the more yellow the yolk. Pale yolks are just as nutritious as dark.

One per day
Eggs have gotten a bad rap from the cholesterol crowd. But according to a study done at Harvard University, eating one egg per day does not increase the risk of heart disease or stroke. The Harvard study had a team of nutritionists, epidemiologists, and physicians tracked 115,000 men and women, measuring their health against egg consumption. They concluded that healthy people can eat an egg a day without raising their cholesterol to harmful levels.

Not so free
When we hear "free-range" we imagine happy chickens clucking around the yard in the sunshine. But since it’s not a legal industry term, free-range is essentially meaningless when describing eggs. To use the label chickens must have access to the outdoors -- being in a crowded pen with an open door or being in a barn with a window qualifies as free range.

Organic is better
Organic eggs are healthier since organically raised chicken are not given growth hormones or antibiotics. To qualify as organic, chickens must have access to the outdoors including pastures where they can ruminant. However, the organic standards are in direct proportion to the size of the farm. The larger the farm the more crowding there will be along with practices such as debeaking. The secret is to find a small local source, usually at the farmer’s market.

Egg trivia

There are now 200 breeds of chickens.

An average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs a year.

A hen starts laying eggs at 19 weeks of age.

A hen must eat four pounds of feed to make a dozen eggs.

Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yoked eggs throughout her egg-laying career.

As a hen grows older she produces larger eggs.

The mother hen turns over her egg about fifty times per day so the yolk won't stick to the sides of the shell

Enjoy your daily white or brown egg.

Anne Colvey is a Montreal based journalist who eats her eggs at greasy spoon diners.


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