Easter is coming up fast, and now there is more reason than ever to eat those eggs!

New research by Dr. Adam Wenzel, Ph.D. in 'The Journal of Nutrition' suggests that eating eggs can improve your eye health. Egg yolks contain lutein and zeaxanthin which are carotenoid compounds. The study showed that eating and egg a day raises the levels of these compounds in the eye which can reduce your risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) which is characterized by the deterioration of the central retina, or macula, and is the leading cause of blindness in people over 50.

Carotenoids are found most in green leafy vegetables (spinach has alot) and that is where we get most of them in our food. The chickens get them the same way (and pastured chickens get them the most!) from eating the green plants. These carotenoids are concentrated in the egg yolk and are highly bioavailable (easily absorbed) to the retina. When these are aborbed by the retina they are refered to as "macular pigment". "Macular pigment appears to protect the retina by absorbing potentially harmful wavelengths of light, and by quenching free radicals that can damage tissues," says Adam Wenzel. The study used women who ate 6 eggs a week (one almost every day) for 12 weeks and then measured their macular density. The women who ate the eggs had an increase in macular density but the women who didn't eat the eggs showed no change in their macular density. Furthermore, the women eating the eggs showed NO INCREASE in cholesteral levels!

I assume that the researcher was not using pastured eggs in his trial, and can only imagine how much better the benefits are to those of us eating these dark orange yolks.

You can read a summary of this study at this link: http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/abstract/136/10/2568

Here is another link if you want to read more about this study and other reasons why eggs provide great nutrition: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=92

The March/April 2007 issue of EatingWell magazine also has a great article about this.

--Jackie Leigh