Eggs have served a lot of purposes since time immemorial. In fact, a new study has underscored another benefit of eggs to the health of mankind.
Eggs are essentially rich in a lot of substances, particularly proteins, vitamins, minerals and some lipids. The research conducted by experts from the University of Alberta revealed that eggs, in fact, also contain antioxidant properties.
Antioxidants are crucial in the prevention of heart diseases and cancers that could ultimately lead to risky heart surgery. The onset and development of such health disorders often stem from the free radicals that travel through the bloodstream, and antioxidants will help eradicate these disease-causing substances.
To conduct the experiment, Jianping Wu, Andreas Schieber, Chamila Nimalaratne and Daise Lopes-Lutz from the Department of Agricultural Food and Nutritional Science at the University of Alberta studied the egg yolks from the hens that are fed with a wheat or corn diet. Upon investigation, they discovered that the yolks are rich in two certain amino acids, namely tryptophan and tyrosine. Both substances are very high in antioxidants. In fact, raw egg yolks have twice as many antioxidants comparable to a single apple and 25g of cranberries. On the other hand, if the yolks are subjected to heat, such as during frying or boiling, the levels of antioxidants are diminished by about half.
Wu said that even if there is a significant difference of the antioxidant levels when cooked, eggs are still quite equal to apples when it comes to the antioxidant properties. In fact, this striking discovery of beneficial antioxidants found in yolks will pave the way for more research to be conducted, so that people will get to know more about antioxidant properties of eggs.
The results of the study were published in the scientific journal, Food Chemistry.
About Denise