- [Narrator] The egg industry
is not what it's cracked up to be.
Eggs are used in many foods.
They're almost ubiquitous.
Pasta, pastries, even candy.
Egg protein hides in food labels
under various names, such as lysozyme,
albumin, globulin, and lecithin.
But are eggs healthy?
Are they necessary?
How did the industry come to be?
The honest truth about the egg industry.
Eggs are used for a variety of purposes.
They create stability in batters
when baking cakes and cookies.
Eggs are used to make condiments, such as mayonnaise.
They're used as a binding agent in beauty products.
And two eggs any style are a western staple
for a weekend brunch.
Humans have been consuming eggs for a long time.
Hen domestication began with the East Indian,
Chinese, and Egyptian populations
between 3200 and 1400 BC.
Domesticating hens meant that they didn't have to
go hunting for eggs anymore.
Eggs finally reached Europe in 800 BC.
Throughout our egg consuming history,
up until the industrial revolution,
chickens only laid eggs during part of the year.
There's plenty of daylight in springtime,
but it isn't too hot out.
And that's why we have Easter eggs,
and eggs on the Seder plate.
Chickens of today face a much different reality.
According to the Humane Society of the United States,
wild hens typically lay 10 to 15 eggs a year.
Factory farm raised chickens now produce
250 to 300 eggs year-round.
With a growing population, and with countries
eating as many as 279 eggs per person per year,
the demand has put an incredible strain
on the hens reproductive system
in order to produce this unnatural amount.
So how does egg laying work exactly?
Hens are female chickens, and like human women,
they have a reproductive cycle.
Every month a woman will produce an egg
from one of her ovaries.
Hens only have one ovary.
But in a similar fashion,
the ovary sends a yolk on its path.
This then forms what we know as an egg white.
As yolk moves through the reproductive tract
into the shell gland, eggshells get their
hard outer coating from calcium carbonate.
And it's a labor intensive process.
For each shell produced a hen must use
approximately 10% of the calcium stored
in her bones to make this coating.
As hens are bred to produce up to 300 eggs per year,
this comes at an extreme cost to her health.
Hens face debilitating osteoporosis,
skeletal paralysis, fatal reproductive diseases,
as well as other diseases spread
through overcrowded chicken houses.
What about free-range?
Perhaps you've heard it's better.
The Sentience Institute took a closer look
at the United States Department of Agriculture,
and the Environmental Protection Agency's definition
of concentrated animal feeding operations.
The report concluded that 99% of animal products
in the US come from factory farms, with 98%
of egg laying hens living in these crowded conditions.
As consumers have become aware of factory farming practices,
terms such as free range and cage free
have been used by marketers to continue
to sell these animal products.
According to PETA, the largest animal rights organization,
labels other than organic are not government regulated.
Free range can mean that the chickens
spend 10 minutes a day outside.
But no one is enforcing any rules on this.
Cage free hens face the same overcrowding
as factory farmed hens.
Except without the cages.
They're still subjected to having
their beaks cut off to prevent violence
in the overcrowded space.
Game of Thrones start Jerome Flynn
spoke to PETA about this issue.
- British farmers would like us to imagine
their animals in green pastures
and barnyard scenes of years gone by.
But I'm sorry to say, the reality is far from idyllic.
Most eggs come from hens who are crammed in so tightly,
that they can't nest or stretch out even a single wing.
Or do anything else that's natural or important to them.
Please also join me in rejecting labels
like high welfare, organic, and free range.
They're only there to make consumers feel better.
Male chicks deemed unnecessary to the egg industry,
as they do not lay eggs, are killed as a general practice.
Hatcheries terminate hundreds of thousands
of male chicks per year by grinding them alive
or putting them in a gas chamber.
Chickens can live eight years on average.
And commercial hens only lay eggs
for the first two years before they are spent.
Then these hens are also gassed at a young age
and sent to the landfill, or rendered into oil
to be used by other industries.
Why are eggs in such high demand?
Eggs are versatile, and they have been the star
of the breakfast table thanks to decades
of effective marketing campaigns
positioning eggs as a healthy protein choice.
Humans only require 0.8 grams of protein
per kilogram of body weight.
Or 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight
if trying to build muscle mass.
This equates to about 10%
of all calories coming from protein.
Aside from protein, concerns began to spark
around egg consumption due to high levels of cholesterol.
Researchers at Northwestern University
School of Medicine put dietary cholesterol concerns
back on the map with a paper that associates
the cholesterol from egg consumption
with increased mortality and cardiovascular risk.
One large egg contains 186 milligrams of cholesterol,
and most countries' dietary guidelines
suggest 100 to 300 milligrams maximum per day.
Cholesterol is a steroid.
And is a precursor to hormones
such as testosterone and estrogen.
It also patches up holes in the arterial lining
by making cholesterol plaque,
and it helps us synthesize vitamin D.
Cholesterol has gotten a bad rap,
since cholesterol plaque is usually a sign
of cardiovascular disease.
But this is largely due to underlying inflammation
causing blood vessels to tear in the first place.
The liver makes up to 75% of our cholesterol.
And all of our other cells are capable of making it too.
This all goes to show that cholesterol
from our diet is not necessary.
Though eggs seem to be everywhere,
there are many eggy alternatives
that can be added to your diet instead.
Substitute flax seed to create a flax egg for baking.
Weekend scrambles and quiches can easily
be swapped for tofu instead.
And don't forget the side of tempeh bacon.
Southern California company, Follow Your Heart,
makes vegan mayonnaise without the egg,
by using grapeseed oil in its place.
Bay Area start-up Just has developed
a unique process that turns mung beans
into vegan scrambled eggs.
The company uses the mung bean,
as it gels and cooks like an egg.
It contains zero dietary cholesterol.
And the scramble gets its golden color
from tumeric and carrot extract.
That's it for today.
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