The Incredible Egg Miracle

Think big image by TiredTom of the Republicans 

Last night, as I was preparing dinner I overheard Diane Sawyer talking to someone on my television about how a new study claimed that diet soda may be quite a dangerous drink (no surprise there) and how the USDA decided that today's eggs are healthier than the eggs back in 2002 (wait... What?). According to a study released earlier this week the eggs of 2010 have 14% less cholesterol and 64% more vitamin D in them than the eggs last tested in 2002! This is great news!! Except... I couldn't help myself, in fact I could stop myself, my brain kept asking, "WHY?!"

Some answers from all the news buzz:

"The decrease may be due to changes in hens' diets, the way the animals are bred or other factors, said Mitch Kanter of the American Egg Board, an industry group representing egg farmers." (Quote from: http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2011/02/08/Study-Todays-eggs-have-less-cholesterol/UPI-37131297206067/#ixzz1DWwjf5dT)

"The American Egg Board attributes the changes to improvements in American farmers hen feed, which includes a vitamin D supplement." (Quote from: http://healthland.time.com/2011/02/09/the-updated-egg-less-cholesterol-but-is-it-a-healthy-food/#ixzz1DWxKHLri)

"Why would that be? Well, no one really knows. Maybe today's chickens are eating a better diet. Or maybe they're getting more exercise, although if you've ever seen an egg factory, you'll have a hard time believing that." (Quote from: http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2011/02/new-and-improved-egg-usda-says-yes.html)

The fact of the matter is, something magical happened to eggs within the last decade. My personal vote is for the way the animals are bred, because if I decide to believe they are fed vitamin D, then I am not too far off from believing they were also fed some statins. I don't want to think that. I want to trust my food and where it comes from. I want to still have my eggs each morning... even if I really should have less than two full eggs (one large eggs has 185mg of cholesterol - our daily intake should not exceed 300mg! Oops!).

What's your take on the big egg news?

Do you trust that the new "healthier egg" was obtained through healthy means?  

The image in today's blog is called "Fried eggs, sunnysideup!" and can be found at http://www.freakingnews.com/Eggs-Pictures--2626.asp