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Wild-Type Food in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention pp 91–113Cite as

The “Wild-Type” Egg

An Empirical Approach to a Reference Pattern for Dietary Fatty Acids in Human Nutrition

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Abstract

Egg protein is recognized by the Food and Agriculture Organization and World Health Organization experts as the reference dietary source for essential amino acids in human nutrition. Their excellent digestibility and their high degree of similarity with the amino acid composition of body tissue protein make them outstanding among all other proteins from animal and plant origins.

Proteins and lipids contribute to most of the calories in egg and appear in a 1:2 ratio, similar to that recommended by modern dietary guidelines for human nutrition. Therefore, it is speculated that egg lipids can also serve as reference dietary source for essential fatty acids in human nutrition.

Taking 1999s National Institutes of Health Expert Committee’s adequate intakes as a basis for the tentative establishment of a reference essential fatty acid pattern in human nutrition, it is shown that wild-type eggs outperform all other eggs in their ability to fulfill human (infants and adults) requirements for essential fatty acids. In addition, structural analyses predict that wild-type eggs are potentially antiatherogenic (e.g., normo-cholesterolemic and hypo-triglyceridemic) and are unique source of ω-3 fatty acids to body tissue. Preliminary clinical feeding trials confirm these theoretical expectations and the fact that the wild-type eggs represent an ideal vector of essential lipids to human and a unique platform for the establishment of a reference pattern for essential fatty acids in human nutrition.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Belovo S.A., Bastogne, Belgium

    Fabien De Meester PhD

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  1. Fabien De Meester PhD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Belovo S. A., Bastogne, Belgium

    Fabien De Meester PhD (President and CEO) (President and CEO)

  2. Division of Health Promotion Sciences Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health School of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

    Ronald Ross Watson PhD

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© 2008 Humana Press Inc., Totowa, NJ

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De Meester, F. (2008). The “Wild-Type” Egg. In: De Meester, F., Watson, R.R. (eds) Wild-Type Food in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59745-330-1_8

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