permaculture

["Lawrence F. London, Jr." <lfl@intrex.net>]

------- Original Message --------
Subject: [SANET-MG] ecological chikens produce eggs with most eye sight 
ptotecting and cancer fighting nutrients
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:40:25 -0400
From: jcummins <jcummins@UWO.CA>
To: SANET-MG@LISTS.IFAS.UFL.EDU

The paper below suggests that  keeping chickens indoors to protect them
from flu will lead to less healthy eggs.
J. Agric. Food Chem., 54 (6), 2267 -2273, 2006. 10.1021/jf053204d
S0021-8561(05)03204-8
Xanthophylls in Commercial Egg Yolks: Quantification and Identification
by HPLC and LC-(APCI)MS Using a C30 Phase

Jörg Schlatterer and Dietmar E. Breithaupt*

University of Hohenheim, Institute of Food Chemistry, Garbenstrasse 28,
70599 Stuttgart, Germany

Received for review December 22, 2005. Revised manuscript received
January 25, 2006. Accepted January 25, 2006.

Abstract:

The xanthophylls lutein and zeaxanthin have attracted a lot of interest
since it was presumed that an increased nutritional uptake may prevent
adult macula degeneration (AMD). Although egg yolks serve as an
important dietary source of lutein and zeaxanthin, data on xanthophyll
concentrations in commercial egg yolks are not available. Thus, an
high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD)
method was developed allowing for simultaneous separation of eight
xanthophylls used to fortify poultry feed. Peak identification was
carried out by liquid chromatography-atmospheric pressure chemical
ionization mass spectrometry [LC-(APCI)MS]. Egg yolks of four types of
husbandry (seven batches each) were examined. Lutein and zeaxanthin were
the predominant xanthophylls in egg yolks produced in accordance with
ecological husbandry (class 0) because the concentrations of these
xanthophylls ranged from 1274 to 2478 g/100 g and from 775 to 1288 g/100
g, respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) proved that both mean
lutein and mean zeaxanthin concentrations of eggs from class 0 were
statistically discriminable from mean lutein and zeaxanthin
concentrations from eggs of all other classes (P < 0.01). Mean
concentrations of synthetic xanthophylls in eggs of classes 1 (free
range), 2 (barn), and 3 (cage) were as follows: canthaxanthin, 707 ± 284
g/100 g; -apo-8'-carotenoic acid ethyl ester, 639 ± 391 g/100 g; and
citranaxanthin, 560 ± 231 g/100 g. Experiments with boiled eggs proved
that -apo-8'-carotenoic acid ethyl ester was the xanthophyll with the
highest stability, whereas lutein was degraded to the largest extent
(loss of 19%). Detailed knowledge about the xanthophyll amounts in eggs
is indispensable to calculate the human uptake.