Emma Miller
Free range is an important purchasing criterion for eggs. But are eggs from free-range chickens really healthier? A study delivers surprising results.
Many customers make a conscious decision to use free-range eggs. After all, the idea of suffering chickens in cramped stalls makes many lose their appetite. Animal husbandry and welfare are becoming increasingly important.
Above all, anyone who buys free-range eggs has a better feeling. After all, the marking guarantees a minimum space of four square meters per chicken. At the same time, the chickens should be able to stay in nature. That alone improves the quality of life – because many animals in barn housing do not see daylight once during their short lives.
How Healthy Are Free-Range Eggs Really?
From a conscience point of view, free-range eggs are the better choice – but how do the living conditions of chickens actually affect our health?
A study from Great Britain has now addressed this question. To do this, scientists from the University of Reading examined 270 supermarket eggs – and were able to identify clear differences! In fact, eggs from free-range chickens contain around 30 percent more vitamin D than those from cages or barns.
Chickens absorb vitamin D – like humans – mainly through sun exposure through the skin. As a result, chickens that spend their lives outdoors lay eggs with higher levels of vitamin D in the yolk.
Vitamin D is extremely important for our health, for example, it protects us against diabetes and heart disease. Plus, it also helps with weight loss.
The study thus confirms the results of a previous study from 2007. Back then, scientists discovered that free-range eggs contain a third less cholesterol, but three times as much vitamin E, seven times as much carotene, and twice as much omega-3 Contain fatty acids like barn hen eggs!
So eggs from happy hens are actually healthier. One more reason to prefer free-range husbandry in the future – is for the well-being of the chickens and our own health.
