Pasture Raised Eggs are Healthier
Submitted by Lisa Johnson on July 27, 2010 – 1:59 am9 Comments
I was reading in Mother Earth News a little blurb about eggs. We all know local is best but did you know pasture-raised chickens produce healthier eggs?
The eggs contain …
- Double the Vitamin E
- 40% more Vitamin A
- 7 times more Betacarotene
- 2 1/2 times the Omega 3 Fatty acids
- 1/3 less cholesterol
- 1/4 less saturated fat
So read those egg cartons carefully in the grocery store and try to get local eggs that are pasture-raised or free range. You’ll find the eggs will vary in color from pale beige to darker browns and blues and you’ll notice the yolks will vary in color too from a pale yellow to an orange color. All the variations are fine and just show differences in breeds and diet.
Doesn’t that inspire you to a nice yummy omelette?
Lisa
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Great stats, I knew that they were healthier but didn’t know all these numbers. Thanks! Very informative
Katie,
Great to see you here. I’m a fan of your blog!
L–
Hi Lisa – Thanks for this. I hope it is okay for me to add this information to my chicken blogs. We love our chickens. Peep. Peep.
love
Debby
Absolutely Debby, please be my guest
Lisa
Free range eggs actually have flavor, no need to season them at all, beautiful yolks. I bake often & these eggs make my homemade cakes lighter and have perfect golden color especially on pound cakes. Any recipe you make using these eggs taste better IMO. I didn’t know all of the nutritional benefits of the free range eggs. Excellent info. I think once you uses these eggs you’ll never want to go back to the regular eggs. = )
I feed my boys a ton of eggs, way more than any nutritionist would recommend. But pastured eggs taste so wonderful, they’re an inexpensive source of protein and have a lot of yummy brain food.
Free-range is actually a bit misleading because at the moment the label means the chickens have access to open air or the outdoors for part of their life. Usually they mature to about 5 or 6 weeks before it is offered and they only live about 7 or 8 weeks and during those 2 weeks they may not even step outside once. In order to get the healthiest eggs with the most vitamins and flavor they must be grass-fed and pasture-raised. To be sure it is always best to get your eggs from a local farmers market. For more complete info you should The Omnivore’s Dilemma it is fascinating!
I agree that pasture-raised is the way to go! And to add to Marissa’s point, free-range does not clearly specify what type of access they have and for how long – they could be out on concrete! I just wrote a blog post on the somewhat confusing terminology that surrounds the egg industry, and enjoyed this resource from the World Society for the Protection of Animals which establishes a hierarchy for claims:
http://www.wspa-usa.org/download/165_finding_animal_friendly_food_2009_for_web.pdf
Lisa, thanks so much for your comment. I completely agree
L–