AN EGG A DAY

Children love to eat eggs cooked in different forms. Are they nutritious enough for our children? As children my brother and I had to have a half boiled egg and a glass of milk everyday.
Let us consider the nutritive aspect of eggs since they are easily available,can be stored and can be given to children according to their liking. Some prefer omelette's, others full boiled eggs, still others have to be forced to have as an eggnog (chocolate flavoured). All love cakes,and scrambled eggs.
Eggs are nature's most perfectly balanced food .They contain protein, all vitamins except vitamin C, and minerals. Eggs have a high nutrient density because they provide significant amounts of vitamins and minerals yet contain only 71 calories.
Eggs are considered a complete protein because they contain all nine essential amino acids, or the building blocks of protein.Our bodies cannot produce these amino acids which are necessary for growth and development.Only food sources can provide us with high quality protein.The white of an egg has more protein than the yolk.Protein quality is expressed as biological value, which measures the rate of efficiency that protein is used for growth. At 93.7%, eggs score higher than any other food.
A large egg contains only a moderate amount of fat, with about 5 grams in only the egg yolk, (1.5 grams saturated), 213 mg of cholesterol and 75 calories. Eggs can easily fit into your daily fat limit.
The white contains more than half the egg's total protein, niacin, riboflavin, chlorine, magnesium, potassium, sodium, and sulfur and all the egg's zinc.
The yolk contains all of the fat in the egg and a little less than half of the protein. It also contains the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, and E. Egg yolks are one of the few foods naturally containing vitamin D. The yolk also provides vitamin B 12 and folic acid, and the minerals iron, calcium, copper and phosphorus.

The National Egg Coordination Committee http://www.e2necc.com/egg-index.html#
is making children and adults aware of the benefits of consuming eggs. Recipes using eggs can be found at http://www.e2necc.com/egg-recipies.html
Eggs are recommended by the National Institute of Nutrition as an important part of a nutritionally balanced diet.

So, make sure your growing child gets his share of eggs everyday in some form or other.