Egg – friend or foe?

Egg has always been a basic food, consumed as such and used in the preparation of countless recipes that delight the taste buds of man, but has many other external uses, especially in the field of cosmetics. The benefits and dis­ad­van­tages of eating eggs have always been a con­cern, and the results reported have sometimes been di­ver­gent, but nevertheless eggs are a rich and varied source of micro­nutrients. However, the composition of the egg white or yolk cannot be standardized, even if we try to cal­cu­late an average based on published data because this com­po­si­tion varies depending on the hen, as well as the type of food used and the administration of a particular stan­dar­dized food type. If macroeconomically, a strategy could be applied, similar to the preexisting one for poultry far­ming conditions, such a strategy is not applicable in house­holds, where bird feeding is related to the possibilities and traditions within the community. Due to the fact that in many diseases a nutritional counselling is required, egg consumption may be recommended with some re­ser­va­tions due to the nonstandardized composition in micro­nutrients, related to hen types from which the eggs come, or their food. For these reasons, the nutritional potential of the egg cannot be used to its full potential. The creation of a legislative framework, like that on poultry farming con­di­tions, based on scientific evidence, could lead to the trans­for­ma­tion of eggs from a controversial food to a food with nutraceutical potential.