Increase calcium intake by eating egg shells?

A fairly quick search across the Internet using the phrase “eating hard boiled eggshells” does not bring up too many examples. There is one entitled ” eating egg shells?” but it turns out to be a question about a dog rummaging through household rubbish and eating eggshells and another on a forum called healthiertalk.com - a discussion over three years ago which included the following;
“Ok, I know this is going to sound a little strange…but I was inspired by the discussion about eating apple seeds and such.
This is a question I have always wondered about and I am now ready to see if anyone has tried this.
I live on a small farm and we raise our own eggs. Anyone who has raised chicken or egg-laying ducks knows that after a short while the bird’s egg shells will begin to soften and weaken (through loss of calcium) unless calcium is supplemented. Over the years we have always crunched up the shells of the eggs we eat and feed it back to the birds and the result is that their egg shells remain nice and thick and hard. The birds love the shells and always look forward to eating them. Wellllllll, this got me thinking…why not eat them myself? I have rinsed them out and dried (you can do this in the oven if you like) them then rolled them with the rolling pin into a fine powder. I was thinking of just swilling it down in a glass of water - maybe adding it to my ground flax seed and psyillium husk “toddy”. No, I haven’t tried it yet. Just chicken I guess. Has anyone else wondered about this? Anyone else ever tried it? I have the strongest urge to do this…could it be my intuitive self or just some crackpot idea?

Maybe the person asking that question on the forum ( using the nickname sillywabbit ) should call into Aristo’s bar (articles here). There they will find a person who regularly eats hard-boiled eggs with their shells on claiming that the shell helps to digest the boiled egg.

As somebody on that forum already replied:

That is not a crackpot idea. I’ve heard suggestions for doing it, years ago. However two things you should consider. Calcium neutralizes stomach acid, and minerals need acid to get absorbed. Therefore, what I suggest is that you mix the finely ground shells with vinegar. The vinegar dissolves the calcium making it available to your body, and it will prevent the neutralization of stomach acids. I recommend ACV, as distilled vinegars are not natural, they are made from petroleum distillates

Anybody out there know if s/he is correct?

P.S This phenomenon of eating hard boiled eggs with their shells was briefly touched on during February when it was featured in the comic strip for barganews: DA ARISTO (cartoon here)

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2 Responses to “Increase calcium intake by eating egg shells?”

Comments

1. Elliot May 19 2008 / 10pm

   It may be a good way of getting calcium; but is that really the point? There are lots of ways of getting calcium into the body; and why choose one that doesn’t taste nice, when others that do - pecorino for one - are readily available? We too have kept chickens, and successfully fed them ground up oyster shells to supplement their diet. But we have never been tempted to try the same for ourselves. But then the chickens were never offered the choice of oysters or their shells!
2. jacquie Jun 09 2008 / 8am

   I know a lot of people in china who I saw cook an egg over a fire with a burnt egg shell, mostly the poorer people would eat the whole egg including shell. I had to say it did look yummy!! It would be great to hear the statistics of osteoporosis in these countries amongst the poor people who cant easly afford calcium supplements. I know osteoporosis is a huge degenerative disease among us. And the only way people tend to treat it is by taking calcium supplements as we do not get enough calcium in our diets. Take away calcium supplements, and I think our country would have the highest osteoporosis statistics. Maybe eating egg shells would solve that problem.
   But this is just what I think, it would be interesting to have statics to back this up.

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