Eggs naturally rich in 'fish oils.'

Eggs naturally rich in 'fish oils'

Do you long for the benefits of the omega-3 fatty acids in fish oil without having to endure the fishy taste? At least one Greek poultry farmer may have what you desire?

Three years ago, Norman Salem Jr., a lipid biochemist with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Bethesda, Md., identified purslane -- a weedy herb sometimes thrown into salads -- as the richest known omega-3 source in the world of leafy greens. When Salem's collaborator, Artemis P. Simopoulos of the American Association for World Health in Washington, D.C., found that range-fed chickens at one Greek farm voluntarily feast on purslane, the duo decided to investigate the farm's eggs.

Just one yolk from a large-sized egg produced by these chickens contains roughly 300 milligrams of omega-3 fatty acids -- the same amount contained in a standard fish oil capsule and 10 times more than wat's found in a typical U.S. supermarket egg, their data dhow. Best of all, they report eggs from the purslane-noshing hens lack the fishy taste and smell of eggs from hens feeding on fish oil (SN:5/7/88, p.300). Salem and Simopoulos describe their findings in a letter published in the NOV. 16 NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE.