Effects of cooking on the nutritional quality and volatile compounds in omega-3 fatty acids enriched eggs

The extensive consumption of eggs and their utilization as an ingredient in food products globally offer excellent potential for increasing dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake. Thus far, research involving dietary focused on changes in their physical properties after boiling, protein denaturation, storage stability, and other characteristics. However, minimal reports are available regarding the evaluation of nutritional changes. Therefore, this study comprehensively investigated the impact of cooking on the nutritional quality and volatile compound profile of ordinary and omega-3 eggs.

Compared with ordinary eggs, those enriched with omega-3 fatty acids contained higher proportions of total omega-3 PUFAs and α-tocopherol. However, no significant difference was evident between the amino acid compositions of the two types of eggs. Omega-3 eggs boiled for 20 min at 75 °C showed higher levels of omega-3 PUFAs, total tocopherol, and essential amino acids while increasing the heating time and temperature reduced these nutrients. Heat treatment significantly decreased the ketones and alcohol content while increasing the hydrocarbons level. The overall variations in the metabolic response due to cooking temperature were evidenced by the multiple metabolic associations and clustering on the principal component analysis (PCA) plane and heat map.

The findings provided useful information for ensuring quality retention in eggs, especially those enriched with omega-3. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.