One medium-sized egg can provide two-thirds of vitamin D RDA should prompt increased industry use.
Nationwide analysis was conducted to profile the nutritional composition of eggs last year with the results of final findings scheduled to be printed this year.
The research marks art of a wide four-year project consortium – UKFoodComp – funded by the Department of Health to update data on the nutritional composition of foods.
Over 3,000 eggs were sampled from three packaging centres across the UK in Nottinghamshire, Kent and Shropshire and included caged varieties and free-range.
According to the results, 100g of eggs now contain over two-thirds of vitamin D than it was suggested 30 years ago.
Amanda Cryer, the director of the British Egg Information Service, said that these results had extremely significant implications.
She said: “Eggs are often overlooked as a healthy food choice. We are going to be able to reinforce our message that eggs are a healthy food choice.
“Vitamin D is a sexy subject the moment. I would hope it will encourage food manufacturers to reconsider the use of eggs”.
The changes are believed to be the result of improvements to hens’ feed, an increase in the ratio of white yolk in an average egg, and improved analytical methods since the last official Government analyses were carried out in the 1980s.
While many manufacturers are flocking to egg-replacement alternatives amid price hikes in the egg market, she detailed that “the crisis is not going to last forever”.
She added that “these findings could potentially drive the use of eggs in the industry”.
The director said that vitamin D deficiency in the UK was a big concern and added: “I think there is a clear opportunity here to promote eggs to children”.
The research also discovered that eggs contain more than twice the level of selenium – an antioxidant mineral that is also linked to immune boosting – than 30 years ago.
Cryer said these findings were highly unlikely to urge customers to consume more eggs since “selenium is not such a publically well-known mineral”.
The research data also said that eggs now contain one fifth less fat, more than one fifth less saturated fat and fewer calories at around one tenth.
The British Egg Information Service changed this into per-egg figures, which meant that an average medium-sized egg now contains 66 calories, instead of the previous figure of 78 and an average large egg has 77 calories instead of 91.