Enrichment of quail (Coturnix cot. japonica) eggs by omega-3 fatty acids and its nutritional effect on young healthy women

The research evaluates the effects of dietary fish oil (FO) on quail egg yolk cholesterol and fatty acid (FA) profiles, storage time on selected egg parameters, and the effect of eating one egg daily on the serum lipid and lipoprotein content of young women subjects 26 to 30 years old. Female quail (n = 126) were equally assigned into three treatments with inclusion levels of dietary FO of 0, 1.5 and 3%, respectively, with 7 replicates of 6 birds in each treatment for 144 days. Egg weight, albumen pH and egg yolk malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly affected by storage time. No significant differences were observed in yolk cholesterol or FA profile of dietary treatments in raw and hard-boiled eggs. The n-6: n-3 ratio was significantly decreased by FO inclusion; 3% FO enriched eggs had the lowest n-6: n-3 ratio as both raw and hard-boiled. Sensory panellists scored the odour and overall acceptability as impaired at the 3% enrichment level. Serum triglycerides (TG) and LDL-C: HDL-C ratio were decreased by consumption of n-3 enriched eggs. The results of the current farm-to-fork study suggest that consumption of one egg daily has no adverse effects on healthy female subjects and eggs enriched with n-3 decreased the level of serum TG and the ratio of LDL-C: HDL-C.