When considering eggs it is always worth the extra effort and expense to purchase free range eggs. Excluding the lower burden of suffering on the birds, free range eggs have been shown to possess superior nutritional profiles, when compared to battery eggs. This results from the increased diversity of food available to the hens through foraging. Such activity provides the birds with insects, grubs and wild grain, to supplement their feed. As a result, free range eggs possess higher concentrations of essential fatty acids. Free range hens are also unquestionably less stressed than battery hens, and this results in a more favourable hormonal milieu. It would be naive to think that this did not improve the nutritional content of the eggs. Epigenetic studies show that the environment has a strong influence on gene regulation. Stress is detrimental to livestock because it creates an environment within the animal that reflects this stress. This fosters an internal environment geared more to fight or flight than to rest and digest. It is interesting to speculate as to the effects of this stress on the ability to produce eggs of high quality.
It is interesting to speculate as to the effects of this stress on the ability to produce eggs of high quality. All eggs are nutritionally beneficial but free range eggs may supply these nutrients in a more humane fashion. Eggs are a good source of protein, and score highly in scales of biological availability. Although whey protein is rated high in some of these assessments, eggs contain far more nutrients than whey protein and so should be considered a better whole food. As well as protein, eggs are a good source of lecithin, which may be required for the processing of fats in the liver. In addition the yellow colour of the yolk is due to the presence of carotenoids. The more variable egg yolk colour in free range eggs reflects the more varied diets of free range chickens that are able to roam and select their own diets to a certain extent. The more consistent yolk colour of battery hens relates to the addition of carotenoids to the feed to standardise yolk colour.
