ABSTRACT
The hen’s egg represents one of the most economical single-food sources of complete protein and is an important component of the human diet. From the perspective of current egg usage for human consumption, the edible components of the egg can be considered either in their entirety (whole egg) or its constituent parts (vitellus/yolk and albumen/white). The chicken egg yolk is particularly nutrient dense, being rich in fatty acids (FAs) (Cherian and Sim 1991), fat-soluble compounds, such as vitamins A, D and E (Kovacs-Nolan et al. 2005), and carotenoids (Anton 2007). Furthermore, egg yolk contains proteins that act as carriers for important water-soluble nutrients, including folate (House et al. 2002). While egg yolk contains balanced amounts of the most essential nutrients for a developing embryo, it can still be enhanced, primarily through the manipulation of the hen’s diet, to contain bio-active compounds that are known to have diverse biological functions beyond basic nutrition in humans. As such, this chapter will focus on providing an overview towards the opportunities and challenges in the enhancement of hen eggs
with bio-actives, in particular omega-3 polyunsaturated FAs (n-3 PUFA), but also vitamins, minerals and carotenoids based on different dietary modifications.
