UK researchers from Cambridge University have announced that the ad campaigns from the sixties were right after all: go to work on an egg!
The slogan, aired in the UK and now famous, urged people to eat eggs to beat the afternoon snack attack sugar cravings and keep you alert all day.
Scientists looked at how the different nutrients affect the brain cells which are key to keeping us awake and burning calories. They found that a mixture similar to the content of egg whites activated the cells, releasing the stimulant orexin. They also found that sugar blocks the release of orexin.
So they next time you feel the need to reach for an afternoon cookie, try a hard boiled egg instead.
Researcher Dr Denis Burdakov said:
"What is exciting is to have a rational way to 'tune' select brain cells to be more or less active by deciding what food to eat.
Not all brain cells are simply turned on by all nutrients, dietary composition is critical.
To combat obesity and insomnia in today's society, we need more information on how diet affects sleep and appetite cells."
Concerned about the health aspects of increasing your egg intake? Tests carried out by Mother Earth News in 2005 showed that free range chickens - such as those you raise at home in your back yard - produce eggs containing only about half as much cholesterol as caged hens. Additonally, Omega 3 fatty acid and vitamin levels in the free range eggs were significantly higher. See the full results of their testing here.
As fall heads into winter here in North Georgia, you may be finding that your birds are slowing down in the egg production. Try increasing their exposure to light by fixing a heat lamp or daylight lamp in their coop, allow them to free range as much as possible, and increase their protein.
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