23p breakfast staple helps prevent debilitating condition which leaves you tired and aching
The kitchen favourite is a superfood which has endless uses for meals but it also is packed with protein, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats
As the seasons turn to autumn and winter many people have fewer opportunities to get outside and soak up the sun. This leaves them with reduced access to the most important natural source of vitamin D.
But being deficient in the key vitamin can lead to problems with bone development and maintenance, and additional symptoms including muscle weakness, fatigue, and depression. Virginia Tech poultry expert Mike Persia says there is one food which can give us a major boost to our vitamin D levels.
It is found in most kitchens and costs just 23p – the humble egg. The expert has researched the benefits from eggs and has supported the practice of adding vitamin D to chicken feed.
He says this in turn is added to the egg yolks the hen produces and packages as part of the egg. He said: “Poultry farmers already supplement laying hens diets with vitamin D to help the hen regulate calcium metabolism for skeletal health and eggshell production.”
He said checking the labels on a carton of eggs will show that having a two-egg omelette provides 22 percent of the recommended daily allowance for vitamin D. He added: “Additionally, we can provide additional vitamin D to the hen’s diet to produce a value-added egg that is more nutrient dense.
“This process has already been adopted commercially. At grocery stores, customers can look for egg cartons with a speciality label indicating high vitamin D or high nutrient eggs.”
According to the NHS Vitamin D helps regulate the amount of calcium and phosphate in the body. It recommends people take a supplement in the winter as the nutrients are needed to keep bones, teeth and muscles healthy.
It warns: “A lack of vitamin D can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults. People at high risk of not getting enough vitamin D, all children aged 1 to 4, and all babies (unless they’re having more than 500ml of infant formula a day) should take a daily supplement throughout the year.”
However, government figures show around one in six adults and one in five children are deficient in the vitamin. Mr Persia said the reason people failed to get enough vitamin D was often because of a lack of natural sunlight they get.
He said: “Historically, people have used sunlight to naturally synthesise vitamin D within the body. In modern times, we have moved inside, because of developments like desk jobs, video games, and air conditioning. We have taken steps to avoid skin cancer, by doing things like wearing hats and shirts, seeking shade and using sunscreen.
“As a result, we have reduced our ability to naturally produce vitamin D. Thus, we need to get more vitamin D from our diets now.”
He said he began researching the use of eggs to boost vitamin D because they were already packed with nutrients. They are a superfood as they are full of protein, vitamins, minerals, and healthy fats.
He added: “Eggs are already a highly nutrient-dense food, and they are the most cost-effective method to provide essential protein and other nutrients to our diets. With that idea as a starting point, my team considered that the vitamin D already used in poultry production was resulting in an increase in the vitamin D naturally found in an egg.
“Therefore, the question became how much vitamin D we can safely provide through supplementation to a laying hen, and how much of this will the hen transfer to the egg itself.”
