Available online 14 November 2015
Open Access
Original article
- a Applied Nutrition Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- b National Brain Research Center, Manesar, Gurgaon 122051, India
- c Fundamental and Applied Biology Group, King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- d King Fahd Medical Research Center, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80216, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
- Received 18 August 2015, Revised 12 October 2015, Accepted 4 November 2015, Available online 14 November 2015
- Open Access funded by King Saud University
- Under a Creative Commons license
Abstract
Health
consciousness has increased the desire of people around the world to
consume functional foods. Omega-3 essential fatty acids are one among
these beneficial and important health supplements without which a
general predisposition to degenerative and stress related disorders can
occur. Saudi Arabia has shown an alarming increase in obesity (Al-Nozha
et al., 2005), diabetes (Alqurashi et al., 2011), and cardiovascular
disease (Al-Nozha et al., 2004) in the last few decades mainly due to
nutritional transitions and lifestyle alterations (Amuna and Zotor,
2008). Lack of nutrient dense foods and the prevailing food related
disorder of obesity (Popkin, 2001; Prentice, 2014) especially render egg
as a choice food to be value-added for attaining nutritional security
in Saudi Arabia and in effect reverse the increasing incidences of
lifestyle diseases. Nutritional intervention through a commonly consumed
food product would be an important step in improving the health of the
people, and reducing health care costs. As eggs are a frequently
consumed food item in Saudi Arabia, enriching them with omega-3 fatty
acids would be an excellent way to alleviate the existing problems. A
significant deposition of omega-3 fatty acids in the eggs was observed
when the diet of hens was supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids from
either flaxseed or fish oil source. Inadequacy of omega-3 fatty acids
could thus be rectified by producing omega-3 enriched eggs from hens
supplemented with flaxseed or fish oil source, and thus contribute
toward better health choice of the consumer.
Keywords
- Commercial eggs;
- Omega-3 enriched eggs;
- Flax seed source;
- Fish oil source;
- Alphalinolenic acid (ALA);
- Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA);
- Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)
1. Introduction
Lifestyle diseases arising from nutritional deficiencies are taking alarming proportions in Saudi Arabia (Al-Nozha et al., 2005, Alqurashi et al., 2011, Al-Nozha et al., 2004, Popkin, 2001 and Prentice, 2014). Growing trend in the consumption of junk food is leading to rapid onset of lifestyle disorders in Saudi Arabia (Amuna and Zotor, 2008). An increased consumption of omega-6 type of fats as in the diets in the western countries (Simopoulos, 2002 and Massiera et al., 2010) is causing an imbalance in the recommended omega-6:omega-3 (n-6: n-3) fatty acid ratio (Ferrier et al., 1995).
The American Heart Association (AHA) guideline recommends food
practices that have a positive association with good health and do not
disallow or limit egg consumption (Kritchevsky, 2004).
Health professionals recommend a lowering of high cholesterol and
increasing consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids for better health
outcomes.
Past four
decades have seen drastic changes in the socio-economic conditions in
Saudi Arabia. The beneficial effects of these changes have, however,
unfortunately been paralleled by negative influences on the nutrition,
and lifestyle of the Saudi population, resulting in adverse health
conditions. A dietary shift from the high fiber and low fat diet of the
past to the unhealthy diets in today’s times has resulted in increased
risk for cardiovascular problems, diabetes, and obesity (Musaiger, 2002). According to the Bahrain Medical Bulletin (Madani, 2000),
strategies to prevent obesity in Saudi Arabia should include
encouragement of outdoor physical exercise, decreased consumption of
fatty foods, and lifestyle changes. Saudi Arabia has a high percentage
of adults suffering from high cholesterol (Baba, 2000). High energy foods rich in fats and sugars (Musaiger, 1994 and Musaiger, 2002)
have increased the benchmark of total energy consumption per capita to
3000 kcal. Saudi recommendations allow energy intakes of 2100 kcal per
capita (Khan and Al-Kanhal, 1998).
Economic affluence has resulted in sedentary habits leading to fat
consumption beyond the 30% of the allowed energy intake recommended for
sedentary individuals (FAO, 1994).
Therefore, there is an increased need for functional foods providing
health benefits to the general population. Furthermore, increased health
awareness has created recognition and consumer demand for nutritional
products enhancing health.
Omega-3 fatty acids are one of the most sought after components in the functional food sector. It has been observed (Ramirez et al., 2001)
that egg lipids are efficiently absorbed in the body, thereby
increasing the bioavailability of docosa hexaenoic acid (DHA) and also
increasing levels of high density lipoproteins (HDL). This makes the
omega-3 enriched egg a potentially health benefitting functional food (Lewis et al., 2000, Gil et al., 2003, Hoffman et al., 2004 and Yalcin and Unal, 2010).
Eggs have been well accepted as a safe and nutritious food for all
ages. Recommendations from the Canadian government require 0.5% of total
energy intake as omega-3 fatty acid based on the fact that North
American diets are low in this nutrient (Health Canada, 1990).
This has prompted the egg industry to step in to bring back omega-3
fatty acids into the food chain. Omega-3 enriched eggs would, therefore,
serve as an ideal food to increase the amount of omega-3 fatty acids in
the Saudi Arabian diet.
Egg
is a balanced and nutrient rich inexpensive food containing high
bioavailable protein, making it a reference food for protein quality (Herron and Fernandez, 2004).
The Saudi poultry industry centers around two major products i.e. table
eggs and broiler meat. Production of eggs has increased from 145 to 191
thousand tons from the year 2005 to 2009. Food Agriculture Organization
figures of import for the major Arab countries during the years
2000–2005 showed a 66% increase, ranging from 465,000 to 770,000 tons,
in a short period of 5 years. Production of table eggs has been
estimated to increase by around 50% owing to population boom by around
25% and enhancement in per capita consumption of eggs (Freiji, 2008).
The awareness that saturated fats and cholesterol are bad for health
has turned away many consumers from meat and eggs and this is the main
reason that is limiting popularization of poultry products in spite of
immense nutritive values.
One
of the most intriguing developments related to the food industry and
public health in future may come from a higher demand of the essential
omega-3 fatty acids, such as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) eicosapentaenoic
acid (EPA) and DHA in the food products. Traditionally, most of the
omega-3 fatty acids in the diet have come from fish and fish oil but
such foods are not eaten in enough quantities or the right kind of
omega-3 rich fish are not consumed. In an effort to meet the growing
demands of the health conscious consumers, egg as a nutrient dense food
has been tapped (Drewnowski, 2005).
The egg could serve as an unadulterated rich source of omega-3 fatty
acid. Eggs contain a high density of nutrients and are a good source of
proteins, vitamins, and lipids of high quality such as phospholipids and
polyunsaturated fatty acids PUFAs (Meluzzi et al., 2000 and Ruxton, 2010).
In olden days, the country eggs contained a fairly good amount of
omega-3 fatty acids and were healthy and safe for consumption. The
present day poultry eggs are depleted of this essential nutrient because
of intensive and industrialized poultry farming. Moreover, the health
conscious consumer is dissuaded from consuming eggs because of its high
fat content (Hu et al., 1999, Qureshi et al., 2007 and Yaffee, 1991).
The fatty acid composition of yolk lipids can be altered depending upon the diet of the layer birds (Ahmed, 2009 and Singh and Sachan, 2010). These omega-3 enriched eggs contain almost four fold DHA than the normal amount in commercially sold eggs (Lewis et al., 2000).
Eggs produced from hens receiving conventional feeds tend to be
relatively high in omega-6 fatty acids but poultry feed manipulation can
be used successfully to either increase the amount of DHA directly
using fish oil or indirectly by increasing the levels of precursor ALA
by feeding flaxseed (Jiang and Sim, 1993, Milinsk et al., 2003 and Sparks, 2006).
Eggs
enriched with omega-3 fatty acids could contribute to the dietary
intake of omega-3 PUFAs and could be an alternative source of omega-3
fatty acids, which is derived normally from fish. Flaxseed in poultry
feed for hens may prove to be a key food ingredient in establishing egg
consumption for promoting better heart health in humans (Van Elswyk, 1997).
The
objective of the present study was to evaluate and compare omega-3
fatty acid content in commercially sold eggs in Jeddah market and the
eggs bio-fortified using omega-3 fatty acid sources, viz; flaxseed and
fish oil, in the poultry diet. The aims of the experiment were to (1)
study the levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the commercially sold eggs in
Jeddah market to find out the need for compositional alterations of
these fatty acids for egg production, (2) to select a suitable omega-3
poultry feed source for the production of omega-3 bio-fortified-eggs
that would help us in establishing economic feasibility for large scale
production, and (3) to establish the levels of omega-3 fatty acids
required to be incorporated into the commercially available eggs, to
bring back omega-3 fatty acids into the already existing food chain.
