The results from Mother Earth News' latest round of pastured egg nutrient tests are beginning to come in. So far, pastured egg producers are kicking the commercial industry's butt -- woo hoo, go free range! We've invested a lot of time and energy over the last few years in researching the differences between the meat and eggs coming out of the graze on fresh pastures. In the past, we've found that eggs from hens raised on pasture, as compared to those commercially raised factory farm eggs, contain:

   1/3 less cholesterol
   1/4 less saturated fat
   2/3 more vitamin A
   2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
   3 times more vitamin E
   7 times more beta carotene

  Now we're looking at vitamin D, which many of us do not get enough of because we don't spend any time outdoors, and even when we do we use sunscreen that blocks vitamin D production. Eggs are one of the few food sources of naturally important vitamin, too. Our latest tests show that pastured eggs have anywhere between 4 to 6 times as much vitamin D as typical supermarket eggs.