Keeping up with your nutritional needs can be a challenge when food prices are high, so is it smart to pay for “enriched” foods like omega-3 eggs or is it all just a marketing scheme?
What is it? Omega-3 fatty acids are a polyunsaturated fat vital to overall health that humans cannot produce by themselves—we need to consume foods that contain them like fish, seafood, nuts and seeds.
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Nutritionists say adult men need 1.6 grams of omega-3 daily and women need 1.1 g.
- While eggs contain low levels of naturally occurring omega-3 (about 30 mg) farmers can bump that number up to 350 mg by feeding hens a high omega-3 diet of flaxseed, fish oils or algae—the special feed is what makes the enriched eggs pricier.
What you’ll pay: Omega-3 eggs will cost you about 20¢ extra per egg at Loblaw’s.
- A dozen regular eggs cost $3.79, whereas a dozen enriched eggs start at $5.99.
What you’ll save: The best source for omega-3 fatty acids is cold water, fatty fish like salmon—one six-ounce serving contains 4,504 mg of the good stuff and a 213 g or 7.5 oz tin of sockeye salmon costs $5.99—on sale.
- So for the same price, you could get a dozen enriched eggs or one tin of fish.
- But the amount of omega-3s you’re getting doesn’t really compare—the dozen eggs (4.2 g) might be the same price but has less omega-3 than the tin of fish (5.6 g.) And who’s going to eat a dozen eggs in one serving besides Ron Swanson?
So, is it worth it? Not really, although paying a few extra dollars won’t break the bank.
Enriched eggs do provide you with more fatty acids than their regular counterparts but don’t provide the same fatty acids as fish per serving. And if you’re a fish are friends, not food follower, flax and chia seeds or walnuts as a daily staple can keep you flush with fatty acids better than enriched eggs.