鶏、ウズラを問わず、卵は栄養価が高い食品です。また、物価の優等生と言われるほど、安価な食品です。農林中金総合研究所のデータによると、1970年代の物価を100とした場合、2017年では食品全体で約340に上昇しました。一方、鶏卵は約160(2017年)と食品全体の物価上昇率の半分以下となっています。ウズラの卵の価格推移データは、見つかりませんでしたが、おそらく鶏卵以下だと予想されます。鶏卵は様々なブランド化が進み、一般的な卵ではなく、「平飼い鶏」や「有機卵」、「烏骨鶏の卵」など高値の卵が売られています。一方、ウズラの卵はブランドが無く、10個100円前後の商品だけなので、価格上昇は見込めないでしょう。餌用飼料は高くなっているので、養鶉農家の収益が著しく悪化しているようです。最近、ウズラの卵の燻製などの加工品販売、養鶉農家の減少など、ウズラの卵の価格も上昇し始めたようです。
実は文部科学省が公開している日本食品標準成分表によると、ウズラの卵の栄養価は非常に高いのです。特にビタミンAとB12はそれぞれ350μgと4.7μg(100g当たり)と突出しています。ウズラの卵のビタミンA(レチノール)とビタミンB12は、鶏卵に比べてそれぞれ2.5倍、5.2倍も含まれています。レチノールは紫外線から肌を守る大切なビタミンです。昔からフェイスパックに鶏卵を用いる方法が知られていますが、ウズラの卵を利用すれば、肌の防御効果はもっと上がるでしょう。また、妊婦の方に重要な栄養素である葉酸は鶏卵の約2倍、ビタミンB1,B2もそれぞれ約2倍含まれています。特にビタミンB2は、成長や育毛に関わる栄養素なので、是非とも摂取したい方も多いと思います。
今回、ヒメウズラの卵の栄養素について、分析を依頼しました。依頼した会社は三重県四日市市の一般社団法人食品分析開発センター Sunatecさんです。ウズラの卵の特徴を参考に、まずビタミンB12とレチノールについて分析しました。分析に必要なサンプル量は、100gで、ヒメウズラの卵が約30個相当でした。結果は、レチナール283μg、ビタミンB12が3.4μg(100g当たり)でした。世界で初めてのデータです!各成分共に、うずらの卵に負けてしまいました。それでもレチナールは鶏卵の2倍、ビタミンB12は鶏卵の3.8倍と十分に栄養価は高く、ヒメウズラの卵も十分に健康食品と言えるでしょう。まだ他の栄養成分は調べていませんが、ひょっとするとウズラの卵よりも多く含まれている栄養成分があるかもしれません。ただ、卵の栄養成分は餌にも依存するので、餌を工夫すればレチナールやビタミンB12も増えるかもしれません。ヒメウズラは小さい個体なので、餌の栄養成分が卵の栄養成分に多大に影響すると思います。
Eggs, both chicken and quail, are nutritious foods. In addition, it is an inexpensive food that is said to be an honor student of prices. According to the data of the Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, if the prices in the 1970s were assumed to be 100, in 2017 the total food prices rose to about 340. On the other hand, chicken eggs are about 160 (2017), which is less than half the price increase rate of the whole food. No quail egg price change data were found, but they are probably below chicken eggs. Eggs are being branded in various ways, and not high quality eggs such as "flat-fed chickens", "organic eggs" and "egg eggs" are sold. On the other hand, quail eggs have no brand, and only 10 items cost around 100 yen, so the price increase will not be expected. As feed forages have risen, it seems that the profits of Quail farmers have deteriorated significantly. Recently, the price of quail eggs seems to have started to rise, including the sale of processed products such as smoked quail eggs and the decline of Quail farmers.
In fact, according to the Japanese Food Standard Composition Table released by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the nutritional value of quail eggs is very high. In particular, vitamins A and B12 stand out at 350 μg and 4.7 μg (per 100 g), respectively. Vitamin A (Retinol) and Vitamin B12 in quail eggs are 2.5 times and 5.2 times respectively higher than chicken eggs. Retinol is an important vitamin that protects skin from UV rays. It has long been known to use chicken eggs in face packs, but using quail eggs will provide even more protection against the skin. In addition, folate, an important nutrient for pregnant women, is about twice as much as chicken eggs, and vitamins B1 and B2 are about twice as much. In particular, vitamin B2 is a nutrient related to growth and hair growth, so I think many people want to take it by all means.
This time, we asked for analysis of nutrients in King Quail eggs. The requested company is Sunatec, a food analysis and development center in Yokkaichi City, Mie Prefecture. First, we analyzed vitamin B12 and retinol, referring to the characteristics of quail eggs. The amount of sample required for the analysis was 100 g, which was equivalent to about 30 eggs of King Quail. The result was 283 μg of retinal and 3.4 μg of vitamin B12 (per 100 g). The first data in the world! Each ingredient has lost to quail eggs. Nevertheless, retinal has twice the nutritional value of chicken eggs and vitamin B12 has 3.8 times the nutritional value of chicken eggs, which is sufficiently nutritious. I haven't looked at other nutrients yet, but maybe they have more nutrients than quail eggs. However, the nutritional content of eggs also depends on the diet, so if you devise the diet, retinal and vitamin B12 may increase. Since the King Quail is a small individual, I think that the nutritional content of the diet will greatly affect the nutritional content of eggs.
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