American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 55, 411-414, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Egg yolk as a source of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids in infant feeding

AP Simopoulos and N Salem Jr
Center for Genetics, Nutrition and Health, Washington, DC 20009.

In this paper we compare the fatty acid content of egg yolks from hens fed four different feeds as a source of docosahexaenoic acid to supplement infant formula. Greek eggs contain more docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6 omega 3) and less linoleic acid (LA, 18:2 omega 6) and alpha- linolenic acid (LNA, 18:3 omega 3) than do fish-meal or flax eggs. Two to three grams of Greek egg yolk may provide an adequate amount of DHA and arachidonic acid for a preterm neonate. Mean intake of breast milk at age 1 mo provides 250 mg long-chain omega 3 fatty acids. This amount can be obtained from less than 1 yolk of a Greek egg (0.94), greater than 1 yolk of flax eggs (1.6) and fish-meal eggs (1.4), or 8.3 yolks of supermarket eggs. With proper manipulation of the hens' diets, eggs could be produced with fatty acid composition similar to that of Greek eggs.

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