1.0 Introduction
Good nutrition affects growth and development of the human body. Nutritional composition research has shown that eating well-balanced food can improve human health. Variety of foods, including vegetables, fruits, grain, and protein, are essential for the full range of nutrients required for good health. The right balance of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals provides energy and the variety of nutrients for growing children and for working adults. Foods that are high in fat, sugar, or salt should be limited in consumption because they do not provide important nutrients. Both the Child and Adult Care Program (CACFP) meal pattern, and the Pyramid Web site by US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, encourage eating variety of foods (US Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service, 2005).
Egg consumption is a popular choice for good nutrients, but by a wide margin the egg most often humanly consumed is the chicken egg, typically unfertilized (Applegate, 2000). The avian egg is an important source of nutrients, containing the proteins, lipids, vitamins, minerals, and growth factors required by the developing embryo, as well as a number of defence factors to protect against bacterial and viral infection. Moreover, eggs contain substances with biological functions and activities, i.e. immune proteins, enzymes, etc. (Hansen et al., 1998; Nowaczewski et al.,2013), characterized by anti-adhesive and antioxidant properties, antimicrobial activities, immunomodulatory, anticancer, and antihypertensive activities, protease inhibitors, nutrient bioavailability, and functional lipids, highlighting the importance of egg and egg components in human health and in disease prevention and treatment (Kovacs-Nolan et al., 2005).
…
