Bioactive egg components and their potential uses

Hen egg plays a crucial role in the development of embryonic bird. It serves first as source of energy and nutriments of high digestibility and, second, protects embryonic bird against external aggressions. The unique structure of egg with yolk containing the embryo surrounded by albumen and shell as physical barriers is the first element of this protection. The second one consists in the peculiar composition of yolk, albumen and shell with many molecules possessing elevated biological properties. Thus, these molecules represent a major source of active principles usable by medical, pharmaceutical, cosmetical, nutraceutical and biotechnological industries. In this review we will focus particularly on nutritional, health, and biotechnological activities of egg molecules and on the approaches, which are proposed by European research groups, to exploit this bioactive potential.