If you want to get all the health benefits of salad , add one or two eggs, experts advise. According to them, the egg helps absorb carotenoids from fresh vegetables, which are fat-soluble substances. Kerotenoids, in turn, are needed by the body in its fight against oxidative stress and existing inflammatory processes.
The colorful fresh salad provides a number of valuable substances, including beta-carotene, lutein, zeaxanthin and lycopene , which are needed for fine processes of the nervous system, vision and others, explains Professor of Nutrition Wayne Campbell from Purdue University, USA. Adding eggs to a salad radically changes the absorption of these substances by the digestive system, he added.
His claims are based on a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health and the University's Center for Eating Habits, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
In general, few people maintain a diet in which the consumption of salad is constantly present, and in most cases those who include it choose low-fat dressings or put a small amount of oil or olive oil. This automatically means that a number of useful substances from vegetables remain undigested. Egg, and more specifically yolk, is nutritious and rich in calories and fats, but its fats include essential amino acids, unsaturated fats and B vitamins .
A study of volunteers who consumed an eggless salad with one or three eggs found that carotenoid absorption was 3.8 times higher in the third group.
The fact is that the oil in the salad also increases their absorption, but it is too easy to allow unnecessary consumption of calories. Typically, dressings add about 150 calories to a salad, which is equivalent to two tablespoons, while one large egg contains 70 calories . In the study, volunteers consumed their salads with soybean oil, rapeseed oil (canola) and butter.