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free ranging chickens
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Author:  SB [ Sat May 24, 2003 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:  free ranging chickens

I had been told that free ranging chickens' eggs have less cholestrol than regular eggs. Does anyone know about this? And why would the cholestrol be less? I know that the chickens are allowed to choose their own food, no antibiotics are used etc. although the cholestrol difference, if there is one, has escaped my comprehension.

Thanks,
SB

Author:  Tony M* [ Sat May 24, 2003 9:10 pm ]
Post subject: 

SB-
I have free range chickens and don't care how much cholesterol they have because of all the other health benefits. Besides, you can overeat too much of any good or bad food.
First of all, you need to understand that eliminating or cutting back on eggs and other cholesterol-rich foods will not automatically reduce your cholesterol levels. That’s because if you cut back on dietary cholesterol, your body simply makes more so it can perform its various essential duties: insulating nerve fibers, maintaining cell walls, producing vitamin D and manufacturing various hormones and digestive juices. In fact, eating cholesterol-rich eggs may help your liver work less and produce less cholesterol. Study after study suggests that healthy egg consumption can provide numerous other health benefits and that, in fact, eating eggs does not contribute to high cholesterol levels.
In one clinical study, 24 adults who added two eggs to their daily diet over a six-week period increased their total cholesterol by only 4 percent; meanwhile, their HDL (good” cholesterol) rose by 10 percent.
A Michigan State University study indicated that egg consumption made important nutritional contributions to the American diet, and was not associated with high serum cholesterol concentrations.

If you have free range eggs, enjoy 'em, if you don't, get 'em.
Tony

Author:  Enzyme11 [ Sun May 25, 2003 3:51 pm ]
Post subject: 

I've seen statements that range-fed chickens' eggs have about, or as much as, 35% less cholesterol than those from grain fed chickens, but I can't vouch personally for that figure. If that difference is true, then if average sized prison eggs have about 120 mg of cholesterol, range-fed eggs of comparable size would have maybe as little as 80 mg. (How that translates to serum HDL/LDL is another question.) The theory seems to be that any reduction comes from the range-fed chickens' intake of plant sterols. If that reduction is not enough, consider increasing the proportion of egg whites (which have no cholesterol) or switching to egg whites entirely. As Tony wrote, there are many reasons to use free range. One visit to an egg factory ought to be enough to make anyone switch. Bear in mind that a lot of foods have eggs in them, so one could be getting some unexpected egg-source cholesterol intake.


I believe the current understanding of serum cholesterol places more emphasis on the intake of saturated fat, from which the body constructs cholesterol, than from dietary intake. That isn't to dismiss dietary cholesterol intake because it still is/can be an issue, but sat fat is the fuel for the cholesterol engine. An average egg yolk contains about a gram of sat fat. A high sat fat intake can have a remarkable elevating impact on serum cholesterol and composition. I remember a study subject's anecdote about how her total serum cholesterol approximately doubled to ~ 300 mg/dl within a month after she made a single dietary change to eating a basic fast food cheeseburger and an order of french fries for lunch five days a week. That meal probably did not have enough cholesterol to account for the increase, and one of the causal candidates was the added sat fat intake. For now, it seems that anyone with cholesterol level or composition concerns must take dietary saturated fat into account.

Author:  Leslie Finical Halleck [ Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:00 pm ]
Post subject:  free range eggs

Both Tony and Enzyme did a great job of explaining the important details, so I'll just throw my personal experience with free-range organic eggs. They look better, they're sturdier, they taste better. And I don't feel so guilty when I eat them! Enzyme is totally right when he says that one visit to a traditional egg producing prison can change anyone's mind. Anyway, just a thumbs up.
LFH

Author:  amodekraft [ Mon Aug 25, 2003 12:50 pm ]
Post subject: 

"Regular" eggs are fed reprocessed wastes from other animals. YUCK!Not to mention tons of hormones and antibiotics. My chickens get insects, veggies, seeds and grains...and exercise! If we are what we eat, so are the eggs formed from the chickens diet. Just from intuition they must be heathier. And their yolks are deeper yellow and the shells are thicker and they have a taste and.....

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