Are Omega 3 eggs healthy? The truth about Omega 3 eggs…

Are Omega 3 eggs healthy? While you probably know how I feel about egg yolks, there’s always more to know when it comes to our food.

Lookit: I’m not trying to make everyones’ lives harder by getting all controversial over a perfectly healthy food. Eggs are good for you.

What I AM trying to do is be part of the movement to STOP passively allowing FOOD COMPANY LABEL BUZZWORDS to dictate our conversation – and our beliefs – about what we eat!

Don’t shoot the masseuse. Or is it the messenger? Ugh. I need a spa day.

Unfortunately, the term “Omega 3 Eggs” is actually usually just food industry marketing jargon. It’s a term the manufacturers use to their advantage (like I talk about in Eat the Yolks) because they know we’ve been told that Omega 3 is important.

But where the Omega 3 comes from, and how it gets there, matters to our health.

Too often, we whine that “there’s nothing left I can eat!” once we know the truth behind our food, but that’s not the case. There’s LOTS to eat; and the more we talk about it, the more those who produce our food are apt to listen, making good food more available, and food industry practices more transparent.

This is information, and knowledge, as Lavar Burton (or was that Geordi La Forge?) would say, is power.

Check out my video, and the main points below it. Be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!


Main points:

  • “Omega 3 eggs” in the supermarket are usually from chickens given feed supplemented with Omega 3 from flax. It doesn’t mean these chickens ate their natural diet, or lived in a natural environment.
  • “Omega 3 eggs” is actually usually just food industry marketing jargon. It’s a term the manufacturers use to their advantage because we’ve been told Omega 3 is a good thing.
  • Truly free-range eggs (like the ones from my chickens, shown in the video) are Omega 3 by virtue of the fact that the chickens ate their natural diet, which makes their eggs filled with a biologically appropriate amount of Omega 3.
  • It IS possible to get affordable, naturally Omega 3 rich eggs – if you’re willing to shop a little differently or check EatWild.com. And if you can’t get them near you now, at least you have some empowering information so that one day, if presented with a different choice, you’ll know what to do.

Thanks for reading!

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22 Responses

  1. My farmer who raises pastured chickens told me that flax eventually makes chickens infertile too. Heard anything like this?

  2. “I’m gonna ask you just one more time… its Local?” =] I strongly recommend finding a local farmer that raises their chickens responsibly and not “on a diet of sheeps milk, soy, and hazelnuts”. Great info Liz! Thanks for all you do!

  3. I buy the Omega-3 eggs. I know that pastured are better, but here’s my story: I was raised on egg white omelettes and overcooked scrambled eggs. When I tried pastured eggs, they were too… eggy! I switched from the store brand to Omega-3 because I figured it was a little bit better nutritionally. Now regular eggs taste gross to me, so I’m hoping that eventually I’ll be up for eating pastured eggs. 🙂

    1. That was probably a little of both, but the video was recorded several months ago! We record them over the course of a few weeks and then trickle them out over time so I can tear down my “video studio” and have room in my “office” to do work 🙂

  4. That was very helpful! Explained in easy-to-understand terms. Thanks. The local eggs I get from free-range chickens have significantly “oranger” yolks than the grocery store ones–not yellower, but oranger.

  5. We buy pastured eggs from our co-op which are sourced from a local farm. We also get their duck eggs. Will never look back! Frustrates me that companies want to doop consumers!!
    Thanks for your video. The ending was fantastic.

      1. Liz, fellow KC person here, consider checking out Troque Farm in Buckner for organic soy-free feed. Locally-sourced grains and Fertrell vitamins. Always fresh. Quality feed indeed.

  6. Hey Liz — just discovered you and Diane over on the Balanced Bites podcast. You guys are awesome! Am 60 yrs old and am hoping to find more healthy ways to eat, cook, and live. You definitely help – thanks bunches! (BTW – Much of my ‘growing up years’ were spent in & around KC.)

  7. Hey Liz, came back to watch this video as I have been a bit confused with the eggs I have been buying. I buy organic, free run eggs (Canadian winters are rough on our chickens to totally free range) but one of the farms I buy from uses “marigold extract” in their feed, which makes the yolks super gorgeous – albeit un-naturally. In my own research, I haven’t found any negative effects on using this extract in the feed. What do you think? Have you heard of this use before? Would love to hear your thoughts (if you have a moment when the little alien isn’t kicking) and thank you for all that you do!

    1. Yep, generally marigold extract is just used to color the yolks a little more vibrant 🙂 To my knowledge it doesn’t contribute to the nutritional value of the egg, although it probably doesn’t hurt anything as long as the living conditions of the hens are such that they get both the feed and access to pasture/range! As long as you trust the source, it may very well be that they use this extract in some kind of natural herbal health boosting way (though I haven’t heard much about that before, it’s always a possibility), who knows!

  8. hi Liz! I’ve started listening to Balanced Bites regularly in the past few months and really enjoy it. Thanks for all of the helpful info and truly balanced perspectives that you and Diane give each week. My question is about eggs so hopefully this is an appropriate place to post it. I’ve always eaten a lot of eggs and felt great. Pastured eggs are such an affordable source of quality protein and nutrients. Since switching over to eating pastured meats, dairy and as much other natural food as I can a few years ago, eggs have been a major part of my diet. About three months ago I started to get bad stomachaches a few times a week. My stomach would feel bloated and crampy – no change in my digestive system or bowel movements. After a few hours it would go away (faster with Advil). I had recently upped my magnesium supplement dose in an attempt to rid myself of headaches. I switched to topical magesium and reduced my dosage. That seemed to help greatly. However, lately I’ve noticed my residual stomachache occurrences seem linked to eating eggs on their own. Typically I fry them in a cast iron skillet with some kerry gold. Could I be developing an intolerance? Suggestions for ways to heal this issue?

    1. Hi Mary! The only way to really know is to pull them out for a bit and slowly reintroduce (Diane writes about the RRR protocol in Practical Paleo). There’s a theoretical possibility that the type of iron in the skillet might make your tummy unsettled – does cooking in the cast iron seem linked, or if you poached those eggs in water, would the same thing happen? If it were me, I’d also probably test whether yolks alone had the same effect.

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