I was watching television the other day and there was an investigative news show on the question of which eggs were the healthiest to eat. This investigation put the eggs through a gamut of tests to see how they measured up to the latest and greatest scientifically reduced health indicators – in this case, the amount of the omega 3 fatty acid. So, they started with the cheapest and most common white eggs from the grocery store. This was the baseline egg and they moved up from there in terms of cost and perceived quality. They went quickly from the discount grocery store up the ladder to better and better food stores looking at more expensive and presumably healthier eggs.
Of course, the chickens, being the sources of the eggs could not escape this scientific scrutiny. The first eggs came from caged, mass farmed chickens then from “free run” chickens and then “free range” chickens. Then they looked at “organic chickens” and on and up from there. There were plenty of camera shots of distinguished and intelligent looking customers mulling over eggs in the small, quaint and expensive markets. Many of them wore casual tweed jackets and had glasses making them look even smarter. Their graying hair, well chosen words and intelligent discretion seemed to give their purchases of the most expensive eggs from the fanciest shops great credibility.
The top of the line “Rolls Royce” egg seemed to be the high omega 3 organic egg which came from an organically fed, free range chicken. These poor birds were, by the way, force-fed flaxseed oil just to ensure the highest amount of healthful omega 3 fat. The mostly middle aged, spectacle wearing people buying this egg all seemed quite urbane. Their mannerisms and expensive clothing made them look like judges, CEO’s and neuro-surgeons getting their groceries on their way home from work. These eggs were at least 5 times more expensive than the cheapest eggs. The witty little surprise at the end of the report was that the most expensive eggs were no better nutritionally than the cheapest ones.
Alright, knowing all of the latest terms for describing the way chickens are raised and the associated ascending prices, I knew beforehand what the results of this investigative report would be. Funny enough, this report did not leave the viewer with an answer on where to actually get the healthiest egg, and therefore the healthiest chicken. That didn’t really matter to me as I already knew the answer to that question. That would be a chicken raised eating and doing exactly what a chicken would do in its truly natural habitat.
A growing body of scientific research indicates that pasture substantially changes the nutritional profile of chickens and eggs. The healthful beta-carotene, folic acid and vitamin E present in green grass find their way into the flesh of the animals that eat it. Pastured animals also contain conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), a fatty acid that some recent studies indicate may help reduce weight and prevent cancer. CLA is absent from feedlot animals.
Here is a little reminder on our plague of diet related chronic diseases such as obesity, and heart disease that are currently ravaging the bodies and minds of so many in our society. Omega 6 fatty acids are inflammatory and clot blood; omega 3 fats are anti-inflammatory and thin our blood. Animals eating what nature intended for them to eat (like grass) have an omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of roughly 2 to 1. Our industrialized corn fed animals are at roughly 10 to 1. As this plot thickens with more and more pejorative scientific evidence stacking up, it doesn’t take much speculation to figure out how industrializing our food has harmed us. The only good news is that we know all pastured animals; chickens, cows or otherwise have the most healthful balance and quantities of these fatty acids. (Thank you Michael Pollen for most of the facts noted above)
Getting back to the chickens and eggs; those other terms – “cage free” “free range” and “free run” are now as meaningless and misrepresentative as the word “organic”. Still, a newer term which has yet to be completely bastardized and adulterated is “pastured”. This term currently describes chickens that wander around eating their natural diet – leafy greens, worms, insects, and fallen fruit. They are moved from pasture to pasture eating what nature meant them to eat and nothing else. Like the other terms it only has a limited time before it enters the brains of the spectacled, well dressed consumers described earlier – only to be used as a dangerous weapon against their fountain-like disposable income. The irrefutable logic of all we know about nature and nutritional science strongly suggests that pastured chickens and their eggs are the healthiest ones to eat.
Sadly, I am betting that as we speak there are MBA’s working for the massive chicken producers who are figuring out how to debase, dilute and otherwise ruin the integrity of the word “pastured” also. So I have learned not to rely on these short lived terms. I get to the point with longer descriptions like: “the chicken walked around in its natural environment, ingesting only what a chicken would naturally eat, living the normal life of a chicken interacting with other chickens, with enough space to behave entirely like a chicken.” It would be really difficult for even the big agriculture to completely steal that one.
So what is the real irony of this television show with no answer and all of the wealthy people buying really overpriced eggs from chickens that were force fed flaxseed oil and are no healthier than the cheapest ones? Please consider very poor people in very poor countries. People living in tiny villages with no electricity or any of the comforts or modern luxuries we are accustomed to. If you look closely at their modest village settings, you almost always see a few chicken, as well as dogs and other animals just wandering freely around the village. Well, those chickens and their eggs are much healthier, by far then the ones the wealthy, pseudo-sophisticated “well informed” elites are paying a fortune for in our overpriced high-end stores. It’s true. It’s also very ironic, funny and sad that we have come to be mired in such confusion. I wonder if those poor people in their rural settings realize that they could likely sell their eggs for $2.00 each in downtown San Francisco or New York.
This chicken and egg example is applicable to any other living creature on the planet. It’s really simple – even when you exclude our growing body of confirming “after the fact” scientific evidence – if the animal ate what nature intended it to eat the healthful benefits of eating that animal are infinitely profound. The fact that we have disregarded this simple truth represents the “problem” in a nutshell.
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