Is yolk color is no longer a great indicator of the egg's nutrition?

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January 14, 2025

It used to be true that, if your egg yolks were darker in color, then the better the egg's nutrition. Conscious consumers of the past would look for that deep orange yolk and stray away from lighter yellow yolks. It's sad, but this simply isn't the case anymore.

First, let's examine the past.

Yolk color used to matter, because when birds were pasture raised, they ate a variety of foraged foods like grasses, seeds, and bugs. These foods naturally contained carotenoids (fat-soluble pigments) that made the yolks darker.

These truly pastured eggs offered more nutrition (more vitamins, omega-3s, antioxidants, etc) because the birds were naturally healthier. They had access to fresh air and exercise. They didn't need drugs to survive. They ate a natural diet. They were allowed to be... well... chickens. The health of the bird has a direct impact on the nutrition of the egg.

On the flip side, birds that lived indoors on mega factory-like "farms" ate a diet of mainly wheat, corn, soy. These foods are low in carotenoids, and therefore indoor chickens produced lighter colored yolks. Since they weren't as naturally healthy, the eggs were less nutritious.

But things have changes. Let's take a look at the present.

It's sad but true. Big ag has caught onto consumer demand for "organic" and "natural" foods. They are altering food and putting a "green sheen" on the visual appearance and the labels to capitalize on these trends.

**When it comes to eggs, did you know that many mega egg producers now add colorants to their feed to make the yolks superficially orange?**

Here are some things that might be added:

This is why yolk color used to be a great indicator of egg quality and nutrition, but not anymore. You cannot trust cheap store-bought eggs with orange yolks.

The only way to truly know the quality of your eggs is to know your farmer.

Not our farmers! No greenwashing here! Our egg farmers who produce OUR CORN & SOY FREE EGGS never put colorants in their feed.

And that means that the yolk color will vary with the seasons, the weather, the age of the flock, etc. Varying eggs are a sign that you're getting real deal, pasture raised, naturally healthy eggs! Personally, if my food doesn't have slight variation from time to time, then I question how natural it really is.

Here's how our chickens live. This picture is from Harmony Acres in Gap, PA.

But wait, is there a health difference between pastured yellow and orange yolk eggs?

I was curious about the same thing. So, I sent two cartons of our eggs, one with orange yolks and one with yellow yolks (along with some other samples that weren't ours for comparison), to a lab for nutritional testing.

And the egg test results say... there's basically no nutritional difference based on yolk color alone.

For 95% of the 100+ tests done, the results were exactly the same. They look like this:

The difference happened with vitamins, and the results say that the yellow yolk eggs were more nutritious than orange yolk eggs. Such a surprise!

Dr. Van Vliet, the scientist who did the testing, noted that Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) was a lot higher in the yellow yolk eggs. Riboflavin is a yellow colored compound, and this is what's likely making the yellow yolks yellow. So cool!

Different plants have different pigments, and that's what affects the yolk color.

The pastures our laying hens are in are diverse. There's a wide variety of plants. And, different sections of each pasture might have higher or lower concentrations of different things.

Plus, the hens are choosing what to forage for (we can't force it). They might pick different plants based on what they're in the mood for, the growth stage of the plants, the time of the year, etc.

And then there's winter, when there's nothing to forage for and our hens spend most of their time indoors.

What the hens eat has a direct affect on the yolk color. Here are just a few examples:

Dandelion and plantain are both high in Vitamin B2, so we're thinking that the hens with the yellow yolks were eating lots of those plants.

We love having the yolk color indicator of what the hens are eating. It helps us constantly get better at farming and producing the best food for you!

**What matters most when it comes to the most nutritious eggs? The farming practices and the feed ingredients.**

Birds foraging on well maintained pasture AND eating a quality feed with thoughtful ingredients, ratios, and preparation make the most nutritious eggs.

Our hens are fed GMO-free, corn-free, and soy-free feed. The feed contains a specially formulated blend of of oats, rolled wheat, peas, alfalfa hay leaves, barley, fishmeal, sesame meal, raw liquid goat whey, vitamins, minerals, and probiotics.

The way the feed is mixed ferments it (and adds probiotics, too). It's like it's pre-digested, making all the nutrition bioavailable for our hens. And that's why our eggs had such great nutritional results. That includes a 4:1 omega 6/3 ratio and low PUFAs!

And the feed suppliers aren't done yet. Just like our farmers, they're constantly improving.

What matters most to you when purchasing eggs? Were you duped by the yolk color?

I'd love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us.

*Originally posted on 9/22/23. Updated on 1/14/25.

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Over the past few months a bunch of people asked us if we tested our bone broth for toxic heavy metals. When we get the same question a lot, we of course look into it. My first question was --- Is there an issue with toxic metals in bone broth? As it turns out, yes, there "can" be an issue! Heavy metals are naturally present in our environment. We need the "good" heavy metals to thrive: iron, zinc, magnesium, copper, etc. But, we can 100% do without the toxic heavy metals: arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, etc. Too many toxic heavy metals can lead to a host of pretty awful issues: nervous system damage, cardiovascular issues, cancer, endocrine disruption, kidney damage, and so on. Our body is designed to excrete heavy metals through urine (and a little bit through sweat, hair, and breastmilk too)... but only so much. There's a limit. If you're overloaded, your body will store those heavy metals in your bones, blood, tissues, and organs. 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This study found high levels of lead in organic chicken bone broth, which is quite concerning. And, in fact, this one study is still cited in articles written today! Let's dig a little deeper. Let's go farther than the short abstract. Here are the broths tested in the study and their test results for lead: (9.5 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus skin and cartilage(7.01 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus bones(2.3 parts per billion): Broth made from tap water plus meat(0.89 parts per billion): Tap water alone cooked for the same amount of time as a control. But, they only used organic chicken from one farm. And, there's zero information about that farm, their practices, the feed, and the broth recipe. Did they use vinegar or wine in the broth? Was the chicken's water contaminated with lead? What was the quality of the feed and the soil? Were the chickens raised indoors or outdoors? So many unanswered questions! All we get is that it was one "organic chicken" that created a lead issue with broth. Another curious thing is that the broth with skin and cartilage contained more lead than the broth made with just bones. Bones are where lead is stored, so why wouldn't the broth made with bones only contain more lead? It's an odd result. Moreover, the abstract of the study specifically called out "bone broth diets" like GAPS and paleo. They even go so far as to write, "In view of the dangers of lead consumption to the human body, we recommend that doctors and nutritionists take the risk of lead contamination into consideration when advising patients about bone broth diets." That's quite curious. Why are they worried about these diets? Are the researchers anti healing through food? Who funded the research? Is it political? My opinion? This study is not comprehensive. It does not speak to all bone broths. But it does cover a potential issue if the water or animals are overloaded with heavy metals. What I glean from this study is that we need more research. We don't need fear to spread and people to stop drinking broth from this one study. Regardless of whether the fear was fabricated or legit, we tested our bone broth anyway. After all, it's always nice to validate that your food choices are as clean as you think. For Miller's, here were my concerns before testing: What if there's mercury in the fishmeal in our chicken feed?What if the soil that our animals live on is contaminated?What is the well water that the broth is made with is contaminated?What if the Celtic sea salt has lots of heavy metals? We got the test results back. I was super excited. But, I was also confused. At face value, it appeared that our bone broth tested NEGATIVE for arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. You can find the test results right here! You'll notice that, for every sample, the results are "<0.01 mg/kg" and "<0.02 mg/kg". I asked the lab what the "<" means. They said that it indicates their limit of quantitation (LOQ), the lowest concentration that can be accurately tested using the test procedure in that sample type. So the results simply report that none of the metals tested were found in the sample above the specific reporting LOQs. Whether or not they were present below this LOQ is information that is not provided by the test. When talking to the lab, I told them what we needed and assumed that this test would go below a 1 ppb. So, when the results came in, I assumed that a "mg/kg" was the same as a part per billion (ppb). Ummm... that math wasn't write! A "mg/kg" is actually a part per million (ppm). That means that the test we ran had results saying that the broth had less than 0.02 ppm (or 20 ppb) of arsenic and lead. And, it had less than 0.01 ppm (or 10 ppb) of cadmium and mercury. For some reference, the EPA says that less than 15 ppb of lead is safe in drinking water. Not saying that I agree, but it's a good reference point. These results are good. It means the broth definitely isn't overloaded with toxic heavy metals. But, it's not good enough!!! We need to test again! We really need to a lower LOQ. We need to know the results with an accuracy of as low as 1 ppb. It looks like the lab we sent the original samples to doesn't have an LOQ that low. So here I am on the hunt for a lab to do it again. As soon as I can, I'll send samples in again and paying for more expensive testing to get the info you deserve. Stay tuned! I hope to have the new results in by the end of April 2025. Do you worry about toxic metals (or other junk) in your food? Where have your fears stemmed from? I'd love to hear from you. You can comment below (no account required) or contact us 😊 ----- Sources The risk of lead contamination in bone broth dietsBone Broth and Lead Toxicity: Should You Be Concerned?Bone Broth and Lead Contamination: A Very Flawed Study in Medical HypothesesBone Broth, Collagen, and Toxic Metals: A Research Review

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