Free-Range Eggs Offer Health Benefits

Old-time farmers have long proclaimed that happy cows give better milk, and that happy chickens lay better eggs. Until recently, these proclamations were ignored as folklore and superstition, but new studies constantly reveal that free-range eggs offer health benefits far above and beyond the norm.

If you've ever cracked a free-range egg next to a "normal" egg, you've probably noticed a profound difference in the eggs' appearance. While the yolk of a factory-farm egg is a pale, sickly yellow, a free-range egg's yolk is usually a golden orange.This is because free-range eggs have a beta carotene content of more than seven times the national average. Higher levels of beta carotene, the body's precursor to vitamin A, are not the only benefit offered by eggs from free-roaming hens.

One study compared the nutrient content of an average free-range egg to the USDA's nutritional average, and found that levels of fat-soluble vitamins were many times the national average in eggs laid by free-roaming hens. Vitamin D levels topped at four to six times average, while vitamin E levels were triple the norm. These nutrients are essential to maintaining healthy function of the heart, immune system, skin, and even brain.

Chickens were not built to live in tiny cubicle-like confinements, yet most laying hens live in conditions that resemble a concentration camp more than a farm. The majority of laying hens see the sunshine only once in their lives: while they are being transported to the slaughterhouse. Naturally, in these conditions, a hen's body will tell her that it is not a good time to breed, so the quality of her eggs will degrade.

A hen who is allowed to roam freely will have nutrient-rich eggs designed to nourish healthy, viable offspring (even though her eggs are not, and will never be, fertilized by a rooster). The egg yolk, which would have been food for a chick, becomes dense with higher amounts of brain-building omega-3 fats and fat-soluble vitamins-- with less saturated fat and cholesterol.

Even with the extra vitamins, a free-range egg has no more calories than average, and the calories come from healthier sources: a free-range egg has double the national average when it comes to brain-boosting, heart-helping omega-3 fatty acids. Additionally, the cholesterol content and saturated fat levels of free-range eggs are fractional compared to eggs from factory farms.

A chicken fed only an unnatural, homogeneous diet will become sickly and weak compared to its free-range cousins, and the quality of its eggs will reflect its poor health. On the other hand, chickens who are allowed to roam freely can forage for natural foods, exercise, socialize, and otherwise stay healthy. The simple gesture of buying free-range eggs can nourish the body, the planet, and the life of a laying hen.

You might also be interested in Egg Yolk vs. Egg White: Which is Really Healthier?

Source Used: 14-Source Egg Nutrition Chart. 2007; Accessed 1 Mar 09.