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Review
. 2019 Mar 22;11(3):684.
doi: 10.3390/nu11030684.

The Golden Egg: Nutritional Value, Bioactivities, and Emerging Benefits for Human Health

Sophie Réhault-Godbert  1 , Nicolas Guyot  2 , Yves Nys  3
Affiliations
Review

The Golden Egg: Nutritional Value, Bioactivities, and Emerging Benefits for Human Health

Sophie Réhault-Godbert et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Egg is an encapsulated source of macro and micronutrients that meet all requirements to support embryonic development until hatching. The perfect balance and diversity in its nutrients along with its high digestibility and its affordable price has put the egg in the spotlight as a basic food for humans. However, egg still has to face many years of nutritionist recommendations aiming at restricting egg consumption to limit cardiovascular diseases incidence. Most experimental, clinical, and epidemiologic studies concluded that there was no evidence of a correlation between dietary cholesterol brought by eggs and an increase in plasma total-cholesterol. Egg remains a food product of high nutritional quality for adults including elderly people and children and is extensively consumed worldwide. In parallel, there is compelling evidence that egg also contains many and still-unexplored bioactive compounds, which may be of high interest in preventing/curing diseases. This review will give an overview of (1) the main nutritional characteristics of chicken egg, (2) emerging data related to egg bioactive compounds, and (3) some factors affecting egg composition including a comparison of nutritional value between eggs from various domestic species.

Keywords: bioactivity; chicken egg; digestion; food; health; nutrients; variability.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Egg structure. In italics: eggshell membranes are edible but usually not consumed, as they remain tightly associated with the eggshell.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Basic composition of edible parts of the egg. (a) Egg white; (b) Egg yolk. Note that for (b), results refer to egg yolk/vitelline membrane complex. Retrieved on 01/11/2019 from the Ciqual homepage https://ciqual.anses.fr/ (French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety. ANSES-CIQUAL).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Physicochemical changes associated with egg storage (freshly laid egg versus egg stored for 2 weeks at room temperature). (a) air cell; (b) major modifications occurring during storage.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Variability of egg composition in five poultry species. Retrieved on 01/17/2019 from Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2014). USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 27. http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/ndl/.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Vitamin profile of eggs from various domestic species. (a) Vitamins of high abundance; (b) vitamins of low abundance. Note that the concentration of vitamin E, D and K in turkey egg were not available. Retrieved on 01/17/2019 from Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2014). USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 27. http://www.ars.usda.gov/ba/bhnrc/ndl/.
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